For nearly three decades, the Family Assistance Foundation has served the needs of thousands whose lives have been indelibly affected by workplace tragedies. As you know, prior to the development of our unique approach to family assistance, the academic and psychiatric community took the position that employees had no role to play in addressing a workplace crisis. Together, we have disproved this myth and established the concept of “Care Teams,” which revealed the enormous positive impact employees can have when allowed to assist.

     Now, to establish the efficacy of our approach within the halls of academia, and to support a broad scientific grounding for our field in the future, we have founded the Family Assistance Education & Research Foundation (FAERF) Institute.

     The purpose of the Institute is two-fold; first to provide a certificate program on International Humanitarian Assistance Response™ for employees in business and industry throughout the world. Secondly, we will fund scientific research to inform and improve the recommended policies and procedures presented in the certificate. The Institute is now pursuing a long-term partnership with Louisiana State University, our state’s flagship research institution, to provide grant and scholarship funding for multi-disciplinary initiatives benefiting compassionate response to trauma in the workplace.

Consciousness@work: the Cognitive Science of Emotional Health in the Workplace

     The Foundation has been at the forefront of the evolution of emergency management, combining the head heart approach for a fully-integrated response to survivors of traumatic loss. The new series, Consciousness@work will replace the popular Wednesday Wisdom and awareness@work articles.

    Emotional Intelligence (EI) is at the heart of Human Services Response™ (HSR), the Foundation's non-clinical approach to supporting survivors of loss in the workplace. The Foundation was launched in 2000, about the time the concept of Emotional Intelligence made its way into the popular conversation. While acknowledging emotions– much less talking about them– was once considered taboo in the business world, that's now changing. Thanks to Daniel Goleman's 1995 book Emotional Intelligence, which discusses feelings and their role human life, greater awareness of our emotional health is becoming a workplace reality. 

    Watch this space for articles designed to validate what you already know about the value of putting people first in every aspect of life. We live by the creed that people are an organization's greatest asset. Understanding that employees, customers, their families and friends are all touched by loss in the workplace is what consciousness represents to us. 

    Thank you again for your support of the Foundation. We wish you the best in the coming year! 

Carolyn, Jeff, and the Foundation team