Since 1964, Employee & Family Resources, a nonprofit in Des Moines that specializes in mental health and substance abuse prevention, intervention and treatment services, has been helping people overcome life’s challenges so they can reach their full potential.
EFR helps people in a variety of ways, the most notable being its Employee Assistance Program. Through the EAP, people can call one of EFR’s master’s level clinicians for help, whether it be for legal or financial consultation, or for scheduling a counseling session with one of EFR’s counselors. No matter the issue, EFR’s experts understand how different stressors can impact someone’s mental health on a daily basis.
EFR also provides Substance Abuse Services including assessment and referral, a Student Assistance Program for youth, as well as Prevention Services for schools and communities.
About EFR’s Prevention Services
In Jasper County, EFR’s prevention specialists offer education and resources related to substance abuse and mental health through the support of grants. One source of funding the team works with is the Iowa Department of Public Health’s Comprehensive Substance Abuse Prevention grant for Jasper County. This funding provides prevention strategies, such as Drug Free Workplace Trainings, Responsible Beverage Server Training for alcohol sellers and servers, as well as alcohol audits with local community events and venues.
EFR's prevention specialists also provide school-based prevention services, including an eighth grade curriculum, Lifeskills, which teaches strategies for coping with anger and anxiety, social skills, and conflict resolution to students. Additionally, this grant provides education about all drugs through lunch-and-learns, community presentations and health fair tables.
The Jasper County Substance Abuse Coalition and the Mental Health Collaboration have both been crucial in increasing the community’s awareness of substance abuse in Jasper County. Both groups are doing their part to reduce stigma associated with substance abuse and mental health, improve access to treatment and promote prevention efforts.
Reducing this stigma is also critical to EFR, which gives particular attention to the connection between substance abuse and mental health with its services. Approximately 7.9 million adults in the U.S. have a co-occurring substance abuse and mental health disorder, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
EFR also coordinates a grant that JCSAC received to prevent prescription drug abuse in Jasper County. This four-year grant involves collecting data related to prescription drug abuse; gathering the right people to analyze that data; planning the most effective strategies for prevention in Jasper County; implementing those strategies; and then evaluating the strategies’ effectiveness. Everyone who lives and/or works in Jasper County is welcome and encouraged to be a part of this process.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, 46 people die every day from overdoses involving prescription opioids. In Jasper County, the rate of opiate-related poisoning deaths per 100,000 people 2011-16 was 29.8 percent, compared to 18.2 percent at the state level, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health.
Research shows substance use disorders, like with opioids, are legitimate brain diseases. However, the stigma behind this illness often prevents people from seeking help. Treatment for this disorder, as well as for others, can be found by visiting YourLifeIowa.org.
Hayley Nemmers and Hannah McMunn are prevention specialists at Employee and Family Resources in Des Moines. They provide prevention services for Jasper County. For inquiries or to get involved with opioid prevention, contact Hayley at hnemmers@efr.org; for all other inquiries, contact Hannah at hmcmunn@efr.org.