A specialist South African practice for individuals, families and organisations navigating substance use, recovery and the long return to working life. Led by Dr. Eldene Braaf — author of the doctoral framework on workplace aftercare for employees returning from rehabilitation.
"Employees go to rehab for 21 days, and then return to the exact workplace that contributed to their substance use. Without a structured re-entry, relapse isn't a risk — it's almost inevitable. My work is to change that."
Dr. Eldene Braaf is a South African social worker, employee assistance specialist and researcher whose practice sits at the intersection of substance abuse, addiction recovery and the workplace. Her 2023 doctoral thesis — The Development of a Workplace Support Programme for Employees Returning from Substance Abuse Rehabilitation (University of the Western Cape) — produced South Africa's first documented evidence-based aftercare intervention programme designed specifically for EAPs and Wellness Practitioners working with employees returning to work after rehab. The capstone paper was published in 2024 in the International Journal of Workplace Health Management.
She is a registered social worker with the South African Society of Social Workers in Private Practice (SASSP) and the Employee Assistance Professionals Association of South Africa (EAPA-SA). From her base in the Northern Cape — a province carrying some of the country's highest rates of workplace substance abuse — she works with individuals in recovery, the families holding them, and the organisations responsible for bringing them safely back to work.
The same foundations apply whether you arrive as an individual, a family carrying someone through recovery, or an EAP team building a return-to-work pathway. Bio-ecological in framing. Evidence-based in design. Human-first in delivery.
Substance use is met as a health and psychosocial issue — never as a moral failure. Safety, dignity and confidentiality come before everything else.
Anchored in Bronfenbrenner's systems theory and Intervention Mapping. Individual, family, workplace and community are addressed as one interconnected system.
Rehabilitation is 21 days. Recovery is years. Aftercare, relapse prevention and return-to-work support are treated as core — not as optional extras.
Workplaces are not bystanders to addiction — they are active environments that can either accelerate relapse or sustain recovery. That distinction is the whole point.
Specialist support for substance abuse, addiction recovery and workplace reintegration — alongside the broader counselling, psychosocial and wellness services that hold the whole picture together.
The signature service. A structured, evidence-based aftercare pathway for employees returning from rehab — adapted directly from Dr. Braaf's doctoral framework.
Specialised counselling for substance use disorders — from contemplation, through detox referral pathways, into long-term recovery and relapse prevention.
Building and reviewing Employee Assistance and Wellness Programmes — with particular attention to substance abuse policy, referral pathways and aftercare.
"Concerned significant others" carry the unseen weight of addiction. Structured psychosocial support for the people standing alongside someone in recovery.
One-on-one therapeutic support for anxiety, depression, grief, life transitions, trauma and the quiet weight of just feeling stuck.
On-site or virtual debriefing for individuals, teams and organisations after distressing workplace incidents, loss or major change.
Practical, recovery-focused work with chronic stress, compassion fatigue and burnout — for individuals, leaders and frontline professionals.
Holistic support that holds emotional, social, family and economic stressors together — not in isolation from each other.
Workshops, talks and structured education on substance use — for workplaces, schools, families and community programmes.
The doctoral specialism. Substance use is treated as a health and psychosocial issue — never as a moral failure. Care is shaped by years of clinical work, research and walking alongside the people, families and workplaces who carry recovery together.
Substance use is deeply contextual — shaped by family systems, workplace pressures, community circumstances and history. The recovery work offered here is correspondingly broad: individual counselling, family support, and structured workplace reintegration through the signature Workplace Aftercare Programme.
For families and "concerned significant others" — the partners, parents and adult children who quietly carry someone's recovery — support extends beyond the individual into the relationships, routines and conversations that either hold recovery or undermine it.
Confidential assessment, honest exploration of your story, and a clear map of what's possible — at your pace, without pressure.
Coordinated referrals to medical, detox or in-patient services where needed — with continuous psychosocial support around them.
The most fragile and under-served part of recovery — structured return-to-work support based on Dr. Braaf's three-phase programme.
Sustained counselling, family work and resilience-building — for the months and years where recovery is most quietly tested.
A three-phase, evidence-based intervention that brings employees safely back to working life after substance abuse rehabilitation — developed directly from Dr. Braaf's 2023 doctoral framework and published in the International Journal of Workplace Health Management (2024).
Designed for South African EAPs, HR teams and Employee Wellness practitioners. Anchored in Bronfenbrenner's bio-ecological systems theory and the Intervention Mapping framework. Built with the people who actually live it — returning employees, wellness practitioners, and the families who hold them — through qualitative inquiry and two consensus-seeking workshops.
South African employers are legally required to support employees with substance use disorders — yet the most fragile period in recovery, the return to work, has historically had no documented structured pathway.
Prepare the workplace for the returning employee — so that they walk into an environment that has been thought about, not one that's been waiting.
The first weeks back — held with care. A manageable, gently graded return to working life, not a "straight back into it" plunge that quietly invites relapse.
The long arc. Maintenance of therapeutic support, recovery goals and resilience — through the months where recovery is most quietly tested.
The programme can be delivered in full, embedded into an existing EAP, or used as a training framework for your wellness team. Contact us to scope it for your organisation.
For HR, OD, EAP and leadership teams designing wellness programmes that take substance abuse seriously — not as a poster on a noticeboard, but as a clinically credible, legally compliant, and human-first part of how the organisation operates.
South African employers are legally obligated to address SUDs in the workplace. Most have a wellness event; far fewer have a wellness system. Building both — interventions for the moment, and structures that hold over time — is the practice's specialism.
Request a proposalDrafting, reviewing and operationalising substance abuse policy aligned with South African labour law and the Occupational Health & Safety Act.
Designing or strengthening Employee Assistance Programmes — with particular focus on referral pathways, aftercare and reintegration protocols.
Implementation of the three-phase post-rehabilitation reintegration framework developed in Dr. Braaf's doctoral research.
Diagnostic work to understand your team's real stressors — and where intervention will actually move the needle.
Rapid trauma debriefing after workplace incidents, loss, retrenchment or organisational change.
Education, line-manager training and de-stigmatisation work for workplaces serious about getting substance abuse right.
Workshops and structured training for schools, communities, organisations and frontline teams — co-designed with you, grounded in research, and adapted for your audience.
The signature training programme — drawing directly from Dr. Braaf's doctoral framework. Designed for EAPs, HR practitioners, line managers and wellness teams who want to handle workplace substance abuse with rigour, dignity and policy alignment.
A focused programme of research and writing on workplace substance abuse, post-rehabilitation reintegration and the EAP frameworks that make recovery survivable. Four publication-ready studies emerging from a 2023 UWC doctoral thesis.
Doctoral thesis presenting South Africa's first documented evidence-based workplace aftercare programme for employees returning from SUD rehabilitation. Anchored in Bronfenbrenner's bio-ecological systems theory and the Intervention Mapping framework. Supervisors: Prof. N. Roman & Dr. H. Pharaoh.
Qualitative inquiry with employees who returned to work after substance abuse rehabilitation — exploring the gaps in EAP support during the most vulnerable phase of recovery. Southern African Journal of Social Work and Social Development.
Focus group research with concerned significant others — partners, parents and adult children of employees living with SUDs — and what holistic Employee Wellness Programmes need to learn from them. Social Work / Maatskaplike Werk.
Practitioner-side research into what supports — and what quietly undermines — sustained recovery work inside South African workplaces. Journal of Workplace Behavioural Health.
The capstone paper presenting the full 10-week, three-phase Workplace Aftercare Intervention Programme — Pre-Reintegration, Reintegration, and Care & Support — developed through Intervention Mapping, qualitative inquiry with three stakeholder groups, and two consensus-seeking workshops with EAP professionals. Co-authored with Prof. N. Roman. Published open-access in the International Journal of Workplace Health Management (Emerald). DOI: 10.1108/IJWHM-05-2023-0064
A long-form conversation on the realities of addiction recovery, family impact, and what genuinely compassionate care looks like in practice.
A series of community-facing talks on mental health literacy, stigma, and where to seek support.
An invited opinion piece on why workplace wellness initiatives so often miss the mark — and what to do instead.
A growing library of writing, reflections and practical resources on mental wellness, recovery, family wellbeing, workplace health and the small, daily acts of returning to yourself.
The most fragile period in addiction recovery is the return to work — yet historically, no structured workplace pathway has existed. A look at why this gap matters, and what to do about it.
Read essay →Most workplace substance abuse policies tick a legal box — and then sit in a drawer. What turns policy into practice.
Read →Partners, parents and adult children of people with SUDs carry an invisible weight. A short piece on what genuine support for the supporter looks like.
Read →Relapse is the most misunderstood part of recovery. What it really signals, and how to respond in ways that protect — not punish — the progress underneath.
Read →A guide for line managers, HR practitioners and team leads on having the conversation that most workplaces quietly avoid.
Read →Anonymised reflections from clients, organisations and community partners. Confidentiality is non-negotiable — every quote is shared with explicit permission.
Coming back to work after rehab was the hardest part. Having someone who actually understood that gap — and who walked it with me — is what kept me from going back to square one.
Dr. Braaf helped us redesign our EAP's substance abuse pathway from the ground up. It's now something our team trusts — and uses — instead of avoiding.
We didn't know how much we, as a family, were carrying until someone named it. The work with us changed how we showed up — for him, and for ourselves.
Whether you're reaching out for yourself, a loved one, or your organisation — share a little about what you're looking for and we'll respond personally, usually within one working day.