25Assessment of a personal problem or concern, and assisting you in locating appropriate re-sources to help.— Discuss diffi cult challenges on the job re-lated to relationships with peers or managers to help you decide on eff ective ways to improve and build on them.— Help you decide what type of mental health professional and counseling approach will work best for you, based on your communication style, goals, and ability to pay.— Help with improving communication and morale among your work team by skill-building and other training.— Serve as a link between you and the work-place while you are a patient in a hospital be-ing treated for a disease or severe illness, so you feel supported and less isolated until you are discharged.— Meet with your family and conduct an as-sessment of personal problems in your relation-ships, and then fi nd resources to provide sup-port and empower change.— Off er support and problem solving to ad-dress your concerns about administrative or disciplinary actions, and fi nd ways to reestab-lish a good relationship with your employer.

— With your written permission, confi rm to your supervisor that you are participating in the EAP and in its recommendations, and if de-sired, communicate your request for accommo-dations so you can participate in those recom-mendations (adjustments in schedule, etc.).— Short-term support and problem solving for a mental health problem like depression to help you cope until your medication starts working.— Day-of-discharge support to bring you up to date on important information, as you plan to return to work following sick leave.— Post-discharge support from a hospital or treatment program to help you stay motivated and involved in the self-help, recovery, or treat-ment recommendations.— Support and guidance for diffi cult deci-sions with long-term consequences for you, your family, or others (e.g., divorce, retirement, or resignation, or choosing to accept a transfer, promotion, or life change).— Counseling and facilitation following inci-dents involving death, injury, which could have led to death or injury, and help with resolving fear and anxiety so memories of these events do not linger or interfere with your life.

— Provide training or instruction on special-ized topics related to workplace productivity like soft skills for improving communication, goal attainment, or managing stress.— Help you resolve confl icts or confusion as-sociated with your mental health benefi ts or re-lationship with a provider.— Provide you with a variety of health, well-ness, productivity, and life improvement mate-rials and fact sheets, or conduct research to fi nd suitable information to learn about issues that concern you or others close to you.— Help with confl icts between you and a co-worker, with the goal of resolving confl icts and improving productivity and job satisfaction.— Talk with you by phone if visiting the EAP offi ce is not possible, is inconvenient, or is not preferred.— Facilitate a back-to-work conference be-tween you and your employer (supervisor, hu-man resources representative, etc.) to discuss job expectations, accommodations necessary to support ongoing treatment or self-care, and to gain clarifi cation on matters concerning em-ployment benefi ts.— Work confi dentially to survey and interview individual team members, work group mem-

CHILD & FAMILY SERVICES EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM / 716 681 4300 / 80

twentyf iveWAYS THE EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM C

Ryan King Men’s Health Project Coordinator

1. I was born and raised on a reservation called Akwesasne.2. My parents’ house sits on the American/Canadian border (literally… I would sleep in Canada and have breakfast in America).3. Despite all appearances, I’m an athlete… with volleyball being the sport

I excelled in.4. On every volleyball team I ever played on, I was always the shortest on

the team. (I’m a very statuesque 5’ 7”.5. My father is one of our nine Chiefs on our reservation.6. My sister is a model. Good looks run in the family.7. I’m a Mixed Martial Artist (MMA) with a profi ciency in Muay Thai. Don’t

let the pretty face fool you.8. While I have no Latin bone in my body, I have latin rhythm. I can dance

bachata, merengue, and salsa (just don’t ask me to spin you… you’re on your own ladies!)

9. I have two cats, Knuckles and Princess, while being a dog lover.10. I’m a Gemini, in every sense of the word.00 888 4162 OUTSIDE WNY

CAN HELP YOUbers, or work unit staff to gain diffi cult to obtain and accurate insight into the sources of confl ict, morale deterioration, or other group problems, and then suggest solutions based upon the fi ndings.— Provide support and intervention to pre-vent delayed return to work from depression, family confl icts, or workplace communication issues with your work unit while you recuperate from injury.— Provide assessments, support, and guid-ance to assist you in following through with rigorous, mandatory steps to prevent job loss resulting from policy infractions or legal penal-ties imposed by courts for off enses (i.e. DUI edu-cation, positive drug tests, etc.).— Guidance for improving your relationship with your supervisor.— Guidance and support in preventing burn-out from workload and the negative eff ects of customer service stress.— (for supervisors) Assist you in understand-ing how to work eff ectively with employees and improve their productivity, and how to respond to employees in helpful ways, including EAP support, when personal issues interfere with performance.

CON GRADUATIONS!The Evergreen Associati on was very well-represented during this year’s graduati onseason, with Sheila Stephens and Gary Williams both receiving degrees. Read more

about their journeys to the cap and gown on page 8 of this issue of Connecti ons.

CONNECTIONS CONTRIBUTORS

PUBLISHER/LAYOUT JOHN CAROCCIEDITOR KIMBERLY HARDING

CONTRIBUTORS KIMBERLY HARDING

RYAN KING, LIYA MOOLCHAN

SHEILA STEPHENS, GARY WILLIAMS

ON THE COVER: THE WELLNESS CENTER

CREW-SADERS AT AIDS WALK 2011

BirthdaysIleana Hanesworth - June 6

Tara Grier - June 6Ryan King - June 8

Tania Phillips - June 9 Yeaben Gompah - June 13

Ron Silverio - June 16Marcus May - June 20

Crystal White - June 26Brian Planty - June 284

AnniversariesJim Mohr - 1 year

Jorien Brock - 2 yearsRay Ganoe - 5 years

Brendan Orrange - 5 yearsElisa Luciano - 11 years

Your Continued Dedication and HardWork Are Noticed and Appreciated!

– The Management Team

I am always looking for a way to save money on my groceries. Here’s a great cou-pon site to access: www.ppgazett e.com. Click on the coupons butt on at the top of the page and create a username and password. Th ere are four groups of cou-pons you can access: Coupons.com, SmartSource, Valpak and Red Plum. Click on the coupons that you want from each group and print them. Th at’s all you need to do! Watch for more cost cutt ing tips in future issues of Connections.

GARY’S STORY I began researching colleges in 2008 with the hope of obtaining a Bachelor’s degree to prepare myself for possible future advancement with the Evergreen Association. Knowing how time consuming it was to gath-er and sort through so much information, I brought the schools here to ACS for our annual Benefi ts Fair to make it easier on other staff who were thinking of returning to school—and I didn’t want to go back alone. I began att end-ing Medaille College’s SAGE (School of Adult Graduate Education) accelerated program in the Fall of 2008 by tak-ing a year of classes in their Associate’s program to obtain credits that didn’t transfer, or were not applicable, from my 1982 Associates Degree in Occupational Studies from Jamestown Business College. Th is allowed me to begin the Bachelor of Business Administration program in the Fall/Winter of 2009. What I Had to Expect Classes would be in the same classroom from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. every Monday, with the exception of holidays and the occasional break. Th ere would be a required study group of 4 hours per week to earn “seat” time for full-time accreditation and fi nancial aid. Books and assignments for the next course would be ready and waiting to be picked up at the fi nal class. Yes, home-work prior to ever having a class. I would spend between 12 and 18 hours per week on homework, write at least one individual and one group paper per week, and prepare and present one presentation per course. Challenges: Reading and Writing I missed my sec-ond class of the Associate’s program to take a speed reading course to enable me to keep up with the required reading. I didn’t like reading because I was a slow reader and would end up reading the same passage over and over again then get bored and stop. Th e speed reading course defi nitely im-proved my reading skills and kept me motivated to contin-ue. My next hurdle to overcome—writing—I hate writing. At fi rst, there were 2 page papers that I barely got through, then came the 6, 8, 10, and 20 pagers, which became easier with time. My Associates program class had 24 students—

a very large class for Medaille’s adult program. We were very vocal class, with a great deal of dialogue amongst our groups, including structured debates—I think we all learned a lot through being exposed to everyone else’s per-spective. My study group name was Troika with Margie Soto as one of our members. We created some awesome presentations on topics including marijuana legalization, promoting safe sex (had to stretch far for that one), genetic testing, gay marriage, illegal aliens, and racial profi ling. Th e Bachelor’s program began with 22 students and ended with 10. Several of the students migrated over from the Associate’s class. My study group of three was incred-ible and we called ourselves Gestalt Phenomenon. Some highlights included creating marketing plans, perform-ing and presenting fi nancial/SWOT analyses and recom-mendations for Buff alo Limousine, Ford Motor Company, and Disney. Our capstone project consisted of running an athletic shoe manufacturing corporation—including all aspects of production, distribution, marketing, and cor-porate/social responsibility. Each of the four teams began with the same information, capital, market share, etc. Aft er one week (year) running the corporation, our team was in second place for meeting investor expectations and con-sumer image rating, and fi rst place for market share. Each week (year) we captured market share, and by the end of the project we had 48% in both the Internet and wholesale market, all while meeting and improving investor expecta-tions and consumer image rating. I want to thank everyone for their help, ideas, opin-ions, and participation along the way. With your help and support, I was able to maintain residence on the dean’s list each semester, and I graduated Magna Cum Laude with a GPA of 3.83. My next journey begins Monday, September 19, 2011 when I begin Medaille’s Masters in Organizational Leadership program. Aft er all, what’s another 18 months and $30K in student loans?!

SHEILA’S STORY I received my Bachelor’s degree in 2005 and knew I would continue on towards my Master’s degree at some point. We had our annual benefi ts fair in 2008 and honestly I was trying to win a free cup or t-shirt but ended up speaking with Carlos from Niagara Univer-sity. Everything really happened fast for me during that time. I took a packet home from the benefi ts fair, and aft er a few weeks I completed the application and was accepted into the MBA program. I offi cially started in the Spring of 2009. I took Saturday classes, which began at 9:00 a.m. and ended at 5:00 p.m. I knew I had to rearrange my entire life because I had two jobs, two children and two grandchil-dren, and they were all just as equally important in my life. It was the most diffi cult thing I’ve ever done because I’m one of the biggest procrastinators in the universe and ev-eryone knows this. I do my best work under pressure. In the MBA class you’re put into groups of 5 or 6 students and you basically have to adapt to everyone’s personality just to make sure your group projects and presentations are great. Teamwork is defi nitely a must! Being in these group set-tings helped me with procrastination because it wasn’t just my work anymore, it was the team’s work. Every week we had tons of homework, papers and group presentations. I never thought once about quitt ing the program because I’ve always tried to set good examples for my children. Nev-er start something and don’t fi nish it! Th ey didn’t listen of course, but it was the learning new things and concepts ev-ery week that kept me motivated to complete the program, which I believe took about 15 months. Th e only bad experi-ence I had was Stats! I felt like such a loser because all my other classes went great, and I just couldn’t comprehend this unnecessary math. I graduated on May 21, 2011 with an MBA and a concentration in Finance. Was it worth it? I would defi nitely have to say yes. I loved the school and the professors were very understanding. My brain is offi cially fried! What are my future plans now that I have my Masters degree? Well, I’ll retire from ACS with my Masters! Noth-ing more, nothing less!

the road to cap&gown by Gary Williamsand Sheila Stephens