Forum for NH businesses to address ‘real cost’ of mental health, addiction crisis
March 28 event will explore challenges, opportunities, initiatives
“The Real Cost to Business: the Mental Health and Addiction Crisis,” a forum exploring the challenges facing employers in addressing behavioral health issues in the workplace, will be held Wednesday, March 28, at Southern New Hampshire University’s Mara Auditorium in Hooksett.
Featured speakers at the event will be Bob McDonald, Veterans Affairs secretary under President Obama and retired chairman, president and CEO of Procter & Gamble, as well as Rebecca Hamilton, co-owner and vice president of research and development at W.S. Badger Company in Gilsum.
The forum will also include panels exploring challenges related to the issues of mental health and addiction, including:
• Behavioral Health Challenges & Opportunities in the Work Place will address the challenges of allowing behavioral health disorders to go untreated and the resulting economic and human costs. The panelists will also discuss the spiral of losses related to delay in treatment and the longer-term cost in loss of work-time hours and mounting worker’s compensation costs. They will also discuss approaches and opportunities to strengthen the workplace and ways to support staff grappling with behavioral health issues.
• Transforming Workplace Cultures to Support All Workers will look at building and sustaining workplace wellness initiatives that create an environment that nurtures healing, wellness and supports employees in recovery or treatment.
Panelists and moderators will be:
Martin Boldin, Governor Sununu's Recovery Friendly Workplace Initiative; John T. Broderick Jr. senior director public affairs, Dartmouth-Hitchcock; Kate Frey, vice president, advocacy, New Futures; Amanda Grappone Osmer, CEO, Grappone Automotive Group; Craig Kramer, mental health ambassador, Johnson & Johnson; Robert McLellan, M.D., section chief, Occuptional and Environmental Medicine, Dartmouth-Hitchcock; Ken Norton, executive director, NAMI NH; Tom Raffio, CEO, Northeast Delta Dental; Seddon Savage, M.D., advisor, D-H Substance Use and Mental Health Initiative; Joe Sifer, vice president of Booz Allen; and Will Torrey, M.D., professor and vice chair clinical services Dartmouth-Hitchcock Department of Psychiatry.
The event is presented by Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Northeast Delta Dental, Charles Schwab and the Hypertherm Hope Foundation, in partnership with the Business and Industry Association of New Hampshire, New Futures, the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce, NAMI New Hampshire and the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce. Media sponsor is NH Business Review.
The March 28 forum will run from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Registration cost is $45. To register for the event, click here.
