Nicholas Barry MSW, ICADC, SAP

Nicholas Barry Quick Facts

Main Areas: Addiction in the workplace consulting. Helping business and managers to deal with problems with employees
Career Focus: Substance Abuse Professional, Public Speaker, Corporate Trainer, Writing
Affiliation: New Brunswick Association of Social Workers, Canadian Addiction Counsellors Certification Federation

Nicholas Barry MSW, ICADC is a registered social worker as well as an International Certified Alcohol and Drug counsellor certified by the Canadian Addiction Counsellor Certification Federation.  He is also a qualified U.S, DOT Substance Abuse Professional. He has been doing these assessments for industry in the Maritimes since 1995. Nicholas started working in addictions since in 1985 at the treatment centre in Saint John He worked in long-term treatment for seven years.  He began private counselling in 1994 after he was certified as an addiction counsellor.  Knowing early on this would be a lifetime undertaking, he made addiction issues a major focus for both his Bachelor of Social Work and Master of Social Work degrees. He has also worked in the Employee Assistance sector, counselling employees with varied problems. Nicholas has also contributed to newspapers, magazine and newsletter articles over the years concerning addiction issues.               

Nicholas has done many workshops on Addiction in the Workplace for business representatives, referral agents, and social workers and has presented to a national conference of Family Services and at an RCMP conference recently in Fredericton.  Nicholas has been an active member of the CACCF since 1994. He is on the Portfolio Review Committee and also serves as an oral examiner. He is a past member of the  Board of Directors for PASAGE (Preventing Addiction, Substance Abuse and Gambling Education), a local non-profit group dedicated to educating the public and youth about addiction and substance abuse).   He is presently on the board of the Canadian Addiction Counsellors Certification Federation and is chair of the Certification Committee and was recently elected Vice President.

 

The Substance Abuse Professional is an integral part of a drug free workplace and addiction in the workplace programs. It is clear that more employers are using SAPs for their industry.  Where someone has a positive drug or alcohol test or there is reasonable suspicion they are given the opportunity to be assessed by a qualified SAP. The SAP assesses the employee and then reports back to the employer with education or treatment recommendations. This SAP report  gives the employee and employer  written direction to carry out further action. In some cases alcohol or drug testing is recommended for employees who return from treatment into a safety sensitive position. The SAP may be the only thing between an employee with an addiction problem and public safety. It is a very serious job. Please feel free to visit Nicholas’s web site, entitled “Addiction in the Workplace at www.addictionconsulting.com or Email at nick@addictionconsulting.com

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