BUENA PARK : Worker Counseling Program Honored

If Buena Park employees need help with marital, family, alcohol or drug problems, or managing stress, they don’t have to go far for help.

Thanks to Larry Temple, director of administrative services, city employees have the benefit of a full-time psychologist 24 hours a day.

The city’s Employees Assistance Program is one of only a few such plans in the county, and Rutgers University has chosen it as one of 25 programs nationwide to be honored for innovation and success.

Temple and Dr. Tom Abbott, city psychologist, recently went to Rutgers to accept an award on behalf of the city.

The program, begun in 1987, was a vision Temple had while working on the city police force in 1978.

“I saw the need,” Temple said, referring to delayed stress syndrome, which is largely associated with police and fire department jobs. “It wasn’t uncommon for a 35-year-old man to become an alcoholic, and lose everything because of the stress from the job.”

Abbott initially worked only with police officers, but the program caught on quickly and the city soon began to see a decline in early retirements and disability leaves.

Temple was promoted to director of administration in 1987 and shortly thereafter began working on creating a program for all city employees and their families.

“What we wanted to achieve was a way to help employees continue to do their jobs at a satisfactory level during periods of personal difficulties,” Temple said.

The city has saved money through the program, Temple said.

“For every $1 you spend on EAP, you get $4 back in hard dollars by reductions in absenteeism, utilization of health care, and disability retirements,” he said.

“If a 30-year-old police officer goes on disability retirement, the total long-range cost is estimated at $785,000,” Temple said. “That’s how much is saved every time such a retirement is prevented.”

Abbott, 47, a marriage, family and child therapist, says he is no stranger to the stress encountered by others. A recovering alcoholic, he decided to get into therapy himself, and from there has continually tried to help others.

“My background gives me a level of understanding,” he said.

Abbott noted that one of the most successful factors of the program is the confidentiality.

“We don’t keep individual case records, only a number count, without names,” he said.

He said marital issues have been the most frequent reason for counseling, followed by emotional stress and parent-child problems.