Become a Corporate Normalizer

How to build a Sober Positive Workplace: Awareness, Policy, Safe Networks, Inclusivity

What is normalization?

Normalization has become one of my favorite words recently. It has working definitions that reach biology, data science, and the social sciences. It is simply “a process that makes something more normal or regular.”

It’s a word we should use more often to describe individuals, organizations, and institutions that are using the power of normalization to contribute to the greater good.

I like to consider myself a normalizer. It was a conscious choice I made when I decided to talk about my issues with substance use and mental health in a public way.

It gets me out of bed each day to think that maybe just one person will listen to a podcast episode or read a blog post and feel seen and understood, even just a little. And maybe it will be just enough to propel them forward to what they really want.

Normalization, as a tool, has the power for healing both the individual and the collective. It may not seem like a big deal to be an organization that has happy hours that are more inclusive of those who don’t drink or who encourages peer advocacy, but it is.

It is the butterfly effect that shines light into neglected corners and slowly shifts the conversations that we are having.

When we use this power of normalization to change the narrative about complex and often taboo subjects, we are doing important work.

Substance use disorder impacts all of us

In an August 4, 2023 article published by Fortune magazine, journalist Erika Fry lays out important details surrounding the realities of the deep-reaching implications of substance use as it relates to work:

Of the 46 million Americans who struggle with at least one substance-use disorder, most—some 60% of those over the age of 12—have a job according to the national survey on drug use and health. That’s an uncomfortable and largely unacknowledged reality in American business, where talking about addiction to alcohol or drugs has traditionally been taboo. (Fry, 2023)

I have yet to meet an individual who cannot relate to this issue in some way. It’s everywhere, yet simultaneously, it seems to be nowhere—especially not within our workplace conversations. Great strides have been made in building a deeper understanding of mental health and its impact on overall well-being. Meanwhile, although it impacts at least 1 in 10 humans directly, substance misuse is monitored and relegated to conversations about screening for illegal versions while overlooking the damages caused by the legal ones. Historically, when we talk about drug epidemics like the one we find ourselves in now, we create a discourse that builds stigma and distance. In his 2022 book, The Urge: Our History of Addiction, Dr. Carl Erik Fisher outlines this cycle of social response:

….to this day, our inconsistent drug policy responses reflect distorted and different understandings of addiction: certain substances are illegal, others are tolerated, and alcohol and tobacco are barely considered drugs at all. (Fisher, 2022, p.202)

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What is a sober positive workplace and Where do we start?

A sober positive workplace is a thoughtful, bespoke approach that’s considerate of the nuance involved.

• It incorporates:

  • awareness

  • policy

  • inclusion

  • safe networks

What a Sober Positive Workplace is not:

It is not a call for the return of prohibition. It is not virtue signaling or a plan to encourage additional exclusionary practices or judgments about an individual’s choices.

Becoming a corporate normalizer around building more Sober Positive Workplaces, is a powerful and needed example of how small changes can make big waves. In addition to the important social impact, it also has far-reaching benefits to the organization itself.

Sober Positive Workplace, a division of Show Up and Stay, is a non-profit on a mission to help organizations bridge the recovery gap—a space that exists for individuals between healing from a substance and healing their lives.

We partner with organizations to build more inclusive environments that reflect an investment in sober positivity and awareness. These organizations are normalizers, pushing back against stigma and doing their part to change the social consciousness.

Looking for more information on the benefits to employers and organizations? click here