DOT Supervisor Training in Reasonable Suspicion: Don't Get Confused by Terminology

"I hope above hope I can drink again.
I just need to deal with my depression, and I'm set." NOPE!

If you are new to education about substance abuse, the first think you need to know and teach others (if you are a DOT educator) is that alcoholism, drug addictions, and addictive disease are generally interchangeable terms. 

Don't get confused by the terminology. It will not be that important.

Realize however that medical professionals are continually debating the mostly settled science on the cause of alcoholism, and the psychiatric community especially, has a lot to lose by the growing end of psychiatric treatment for alcoholism -- in other words treating alcoholism as a mental disorder. Those days are done. It's nearly all about genetics.

By the way, alcoholics and drug addicts absolutely love to hear that their addiction is a psychiatric based illness. Do you know why? After all, who wants to think of themselves as psychiatric ill?

Well, if you think alcoholism or addiction is a psychiatric problem, then you have hope of using again! You simply need to treat your psychiatric problem successfully, right. This is completely bogus. This however, is why so many millions of addicts die of their illness. They psychiatric message is KILLING THEM.

When alcoholics learn their illness is bio-genic and they can never, ever drink alcohol safely, all hope is lost for drinking alcohol again. See the difference? Now you must get angry, grieve, but face the truth and do what it takes to quit consuming beverage alcohol and other psycho-active substances that affect the mood. Any less is A RELAPSE brother!

Many alcoholics have used other drugs, legally prescribed or not, that are addictive. DOT supervisor training has to spend a little bit of time on this reality. Addictive disease or chemical dependency are terms used to help the public understand the clinical nature of addiction. They are helpful in reducing stigma. But terms like "chemical dependency" are particularly popular among the psychiatric community, and especially in California where a heavy mental health model to explain addition still lingers like deadly cyanide gas for unwitting patients who are addicts seeking treatment there.

Addiction is a disease process and it is primary.  Patients are therefore taught to manage their disease in order to prevent relapse in the same way diabetics are taught to manage their illness.  Use of alcohol or drugs begins with experimentation or peer pressure for almost every drinker.  Physiologic susceptibility determines the progression of the disease. This heavily influenced by genetics, but other factors can influence severity and course of the disease.

Alcoholism declared a disease in 1957 by the American Medical Association.

Alcoholism declared a disease in 1956 by the World Health Organization.

Research demonstrates most people believe alcoholism (addiction) to be a disease, however, this belief does not contribute easily to self-diagnosis because of denial.  Most people attempt to define alcoholism by behaviors (how much one drinks, when, or what) rather than medical, objective symptoms. Changing this view is key to intervention and reducing stigma.

Some occupations are characterized by more frequent opportunities to use alcohol socially or without observation.  Higher rates of alcoholism may therefore be found among a workforce that are predominantly male, or in occupations such as traveling sales, etc. (NIAA Research) The opportunity to tax one’s susceptibility increases one’s risk and the speed of onset for the illness. Train your supervisors in drug and alcohol education for the DOT

Don't Kill an Alcoholic Employee with Kindness: Reasonable Suspicion Training for Supervisors

1.  Have you ever called someone a functional alcoholic?

2.  Do you have a social relationship with this person where drinking plays an important role?

3.  Have you heard “stories” about the functional alcoholic’s home life that are problematic or disturbing to you?

4.  Does the thought of not socializing with the functional alcoholic seem unacceptable and

disconcerting?

5.  Have you dismissed or minimized alcohol-related problems that have occurred in the functional alcoholic’s life, even while thinking to yourself that this person needs help?

Would your decision to stop drinking with the functional alcoholic cause him or her to question your loyalty or ability to have a good time?

If others agreed to participate in an intervention to motivate the functional alcoholic to enter treatment, would you feel inclined to argue against it, motivated by how your life might change?

Do you believe the functional alcoholic would become boring if he or she decided to stop drinking for good? Preview the reasonable suspicion training program here.

If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, you are an enabler.

Do you provide education and awareness to employees concerning alcohol and other drugs of abuse?


There are powerful reasons for doing so, and they are all a win-win for employees and employers.

There is no government mandate for most industries to do employee awareness training in substance abuse (railroads have had such a mandate since 1986.) but I want to give you several reasons why you should consider it no matter what industry your associated with.

Employees deserve it. There is a terrible opioid crisis going on right now, alcoholism is never going away, pot use is increasing, and employees and their families are terribly affected by these problems.

You may not hear about the brother of your lead supervisor who is addicted to heroin or the sister of your secretary who moved into a homeless shelter last month, but these issues are pervasive in every company.

Employees may see TV commercials, or even hear the President of the United States talk about drug problems, but they aren't getting education about these issues from any source at home or in the community. Workplace wellness programming that you can easily provide is really the only way they can get it.

They can't get it anywhere. Employees aren't getting information about substance and prevention from TV shows or newspapers. They aren't learning about alcohol abuse, dealing with teens, stimulants, opioids, depressants, marijuana dangers, enabling, getting help, helping someone who doesn't want help, self-diagnosis, dispelling myths, and many more topics. (We cover all these things in our training program for employee drug and alcohol awareness.)

Employees have drug problems. Right now, there are employees on your payroll with drug and alcohol addiction problems. Most are in early or middle stage addiction. Very late stage addiction is obvious, and you may have seen these problems in the past. More problems are coming. It is only a matter of time.

Problems on staff. Statistically, about 5-7% of employees have drug and/or alcohol problems. But about 12-17% of your employees have family members at home or dependents with substance abuse problems....read the rest of this post on my blog at WorkExcel.com

DOT Supervisor Training Test Questions: Making Them Count with Impact and Reduced Risk to the Organization

If you offer DOT supervisor training or provide drug and alcohol training for supervisors for any reason, then it is critical that you give a test at the end of the training. Tests allow supervisors to absorb a bit more of what they learned, and this increases the likelihood they will act on the material. And of course, this reduces risk to the organization, increases referrals to testing, and improves productivity and the bottom line in the long run.

But test questions actually can do much more, and they have a lot more influence in making your drug free workplace training more effective than you may realize.

DOT Supervisor Training Test Question Tips

1) Make Test Questions Educational. Make the test questions in your training program educational. When employees answer the test questions, and check the correct answer, give them more information about the topic and capture this precious moment where you can educate them more thoroughly, offer new information, and having them think more deeply about the concept addressed in the test question on DOT supervisor training.

2) Add DOT Supervisor Training Questions Unrelated to the Content. Don't worry, there is no rule about content in test questions relating to what the supervisor learned in the content of the course. Mix it up. Have questions the supervisor may not know the answer to and make them controversial to inspire interest. Then, as mention above, offer education included in the answer to the question that increases the DOT supervisor's knowledge.


3) Force Correct Answer to Questions. Never allow supervisors to walk away with a so called "passing score" of less than 100%. Can you guess why? The reason is risk management. When a supervisor answers a question that is wrong, supply the correct answer or force the answer on a Web course by making them answer the test question again.

4) Reduce the Audio/Visual Portion of Training. Because you are using test questions for educational purposes (and I hope handouts and tip sheets that are also required), reduce the audio-visual portion of the program. Nothing from the US DOT requires that audio/visual content itself be 60 minutes/60 minutes. In fact, your course can also include group discussion. How do I know? Well, I phoned the DOT headquarters myself and asked about this question.

Test questions can make your DOT supervisor training a lot more powerful and effective than you realize. And, most importantly, effective training ultimately saves lives.