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There is no mystery as to what content must be included in a Drug and Alcohol Awareness Training PPT for DOT Supervisors. The federal government is quite specific, but the entire mandate is only a couple sentences long regarding the types of drugs that must be discussed, and their physical effects of use, signs and symptoms of use, and hazards of use in the workplace.

It's quite astonishing that the government has not described or insisted on supervisors having more information, especially when it comes to the "definition of reasonable suspicion"; excuses employees will offer to manipulate supervisors; dispelling of myths and misconceptions; the proper and accurate ASAM approved definition of addiction, information on the definition of alcoholism; information on enabling; behavioral signs and symptoms of employees with personal troubles that are often associated with alcoholism; information to overcome biases about alcoholism; what type of education and awareness supervisors should get to help them put aside myths and misconceptions, stigma associated with addiction, and of course helping managers gain awareness for a variety of dangerous drugs often consumed in the workplace, like Spice/K2.

DOT alcohol and drug abuse education on the above subjects goes beyond simple signs and symptoms, but hopefully you can readily see that these issues could interfere with the supervisor's role in spotting signs and symptoms of substance abuse in the DOT workplace. After all, attitude counts for a lot and beliefs govern one's attitude.

So, let's discuss seven solid ways of not only educating supervisors, but having them walk out of training excited and with clarity about what addiction is, and their personal power in making a difference on the job.

Important DOT Supervisor Training for Reasonable Suspicion Training: Step 1 Handouts and Tip Sheets

Your supervisors must have take away tip sheets and handouts so they can refresh their memories about the material given on them in the training program. The most important of these will be the enabling handouts that explain two types of DOT Supervisor Training enabling frequently observed in the workplace. One is institutional and the other is personal. All people in relationships with addicts enable. In fact it is nearly impossible not to enable an alcohol if you are in a personal relationship with one because of you get your needs met from the other. These needs tend to be more important than saying something or doing something that will alienate the relationship. This by definition is enabling -- doing something or saying something that allows the alcohol to avoid, at least for today or this moment, facing the direct or indirect consequences of the their alcohol or drug use. Institutional enabling is not personal. It is the environment, bureaucracy, or workplace expectations of the employer that contribute to the addict's ability to grow sicker. A classic example is the corporate socializing around alcohol, where high level account executives and customer co-mingle over alcohol and alcoholics are thereby lead unwittingly, to tax their susceptibility to alcohol tolerance and the growing stages of the disease.

Important DOT Reasonable Suspicion Training for Supervisors: Step 2 Intense Alcohol Awareness Enought to Help Supervisor Self-Diagnose their Own Alcoholism

Okay, this one is tricky, but the value of educating supervisors about alcoholism so they are inched along in their own self-diagnosis of alcoholism cannot be underestimated. Obviously there are alcoholic supervisors.