The EAPA Podcast

Elite Performance and Mental Health with Former Elite Gymnast Theresa Kulikowski-Gillespie Theresa Kulikowski-Gillespie was an elite gymnast who was an alternate on the 1996 Olympic Team, and went on to have a very successful career competing at the collegiate level. Teresa is a licensed physician assistant and certified mindfulness meditation teacher. She discusses her fascinating journey, the perspective/strength she drew from missing the Olympics by one spot (one spot!), the connection between mental health and elite performance, and her new book, "Beyond the Battlefield: Stories of Tenacity and Mindful Guidance Along the Warrior's Path."

We’re joined by Dan Boissonneault, District 26 Senior EAP Coordinator with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, and the new EAPA President.  Dan discusses his goals as EAPA President, the need to underscore and communicate the body of evidence-based methodologies EAP brings to the workplace, a candid overview of the industry’s key challenges in the years ahead, and the role technology can play as EAPs evolve to meet these challenges.

We speak with Dr. Kaoru Ichikawa, CEO of Resilie Laboratory Inc., board member of EAPA International, chairperson of EAPA’s Japan Branch and co-editor of the just published EAP Handbook, an EAP “primer” on promoting health and productivity management for Japanese workplaces.  Kaoru is joined by Dr. Mark Attridge, President of Attridge Consulting, the lone non-Japanese contributor to the handbook. We talk about EAP in Japan, EAPA’s online CEAP Credentialing Program for Japanese EAPs, how to measure EAP effectiveness and the future of EAP in Japan.  https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/4760821902/

We’re joined by Renee Tajudeen, Director, Policy Communication and Outreach, Office of Disability Employment Policy, U.S. Department of Labor (ODEP) to discuss the Campaign for Disability Employment, a national public education collaborative that showcases supportive, disability-inclusive workplace policies. We talk about the CDE’s latest public education campaign, “Mental Health at Work: What Can I Do?,” EAPA’s role in helping shape it, and what EAs can do to get involved.

Dr. Mark Attridge is President of Attridge Consulting, Inc., which focuses on workplace mental health and employee assistance programs. He is also the author of the 2021 Workplace Outcome Suite (WOS) Annual Report, which is based on research spanning 2010-2021.  Mark joins us to discuss the report’s support for EAP’s positive impact on in work presenteeism, hours of missed work, distress over the workplace, employee engagement in their work, and overall life satisfaction (and why improvements in work-related outcomes were consistently obtained across many contexts even during the challenges of delivering counseling during COVID-19). Check it out!