Employee Assistance Program offers community members voluntary, confidential assistance

Photo By Noriko Kudo | Ashley Sauber, Camp Zama's Employee Assistance Program coordinator and prevention coordinator, works in her office at the Resiliency and Restoration Center on Camp Zama.  

ZAMA, KANAGAWA, JAPAN

04.05.2024

Story by Noriko Kudo 

U.S. Army Garrison - Japan

CAMP ZAMA, Japan – A recent addition to the U.S. Army Garrison Japan team is working hard to help the community here deal with a breadth life’s challenges.

Ashley Sauber, an Army Substance Abuse Program specialist, serves as the garrison’s Employee Assistance Program coordinator.

The EAP is a free, voluntary and confidential program that helps community members work through challenges that might be affecting their professional performance, health or well-being. Those challenges can range from martial difficulties, depression and dealing with grief and loss, to relationship issues, family or parenting stress, and alcohol or drug use and abuse, among others.

The program is open to Department of the Army Civilian employees, active-duty spouses, retirees and their immediate family members who are 18 or older.

Sauber explained that everyone needs support at some point in their lives, and that taking the opportunity to seek help and evaluate one’s issues helps to encourage personal growth.

“There are things that everybody can work on,” Sauber said. “We are all working on progress.”

Supervisors can recommend that civilian employees who they believe are struggling attend the program, Sauber explained, but the final decision rests with the individual.

In the case of employees, the goal is to help them become productive again, Sauber said. Through the EAP, employees and supervisors can receive consultation, mediation and prevention education.

The program can include screening, assessments, short-term counseling and referral in order to address problems that may affect job performance or well-being before they become more serious.

“I am full of resources and helpful information,” Sauber said. “Intervention and prevention before anything occurs is my goal.”

Sauber says she can work with management and supervisors to provide work intervention, proper communication, emotional wellness, training, conflict resolution and even workplace bullying solutions.

“Everybody deserves that equality and that social justice in their position,” said Sauber. “I am here to help [provide that] service [to] everybody.”

Those who have questions about the EAP or who have questions can contact Sauber by phone at DSN 263-8059 or by email at [e-mail].

• Date Taken: 04.05.2024
• Date Posted: 04.05.2024 02:47
• Story ID: 467861
• Location: ZAMA, KANAGAWA, JP