Chestnut Global Partners (CGP) Announces Joint Venture to Provide Employee Assistance and Wellness Services Across Central Europe

BLOOMINGTON, Ill., May 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Chestnut Global Partners (www.chestnutglobalpartners.org), a provider of culturally-aware employee assistance and wellness programs to companies worldwide, today announced that it has formed CGP Central Europe (CCE), a joint venture with Wamsrey & Roose, a provider of employee assistance and safety programs based in Budapest, Hungary. CGP Central Europe will expand the tools, infrastructure and support network needed to more effectively serve employees of Central European companies, multi-nationals and U.S. expatriates relocating there with culturally-aware health, wellness and safety services.

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The venture is based on Chestnut Global Partners' (CGP) successful "glocal" model, wherein CGP provides "global" coordination of networks of local providers who implement and manage culturally relevant programs. This approach lowers barriers and increases utilization in each of the 130 countries where these services are provided. Headquartered in Budapest, CGP Central Europe is ideally positioned to efficiently deploy expertise and resources to alleviate mental health, behavioral, financial and legal problems, while promoting employee safety, across the entire region (companies operating in Romania, Bulgaria, etc., as well as Western companies doing business there).

"While employee assistance programs are new in Central Europe, Wamsrey and Roose has raised awareness of their central role in improving employee performance in the three years they've been in business," said Russ Hagen, CEO of Chestnut Global Partners. "Their two founding members, Anita Tompa and Judit Sule, have built an impressive team of psychological and wellness professionals, and have been remarkably successful in implementing programs that address the key drivers of stress and counter-productive behaviors across the region, from financial hardship to the challenge of balancing work and family. We look forward to working with our partners in helping employees across Central Europe gain control over their lives while increasing their value to the companies that employ them."       

"When we hit on the idea of combining our backgrounds in psychology and economics and providing services to help employees manage the anxiety caused by financial, legal and family problems, we didn't know that such programs had been in existence for decades in the West," said Anita Tompa, Managing Director Chestnut Central Europe. "In the three years we worked with companies and their employees in Hungary, we realized we were ideally positioned to expand our services to surrounding countries -- first because we as Hungarians typically speak other languages, and second, we realized there were common problems that crossed all borders, including alcohol abuse, meeting financial obligations, and high levels of stress. Working with CGP gives us the infrastructure and know-how to efficiently manage workforces across Central Europe, speeding acceptance and increasing utilization."   

About Chestnut Global Partners Central Europe (a Subsidiary of Chestnut Global Partners, LLC):

Chestnut Global Partners Central Europe (CGPCE) is a behavioral health organization based in Budapest, Hungary. CGPCE offers a full range of culturally aware employee assistance and related workplace services to both Central European and multi-national companies. CGPCE combines traditional EAP with wellness, disability, high risk maternity, employees safety and compliance management programs, designed to promote employee well-being, improve performance and reduce absenteeism.

Chestnut Global Partners, headquartered in Bloomington, IL, provides employee assistance and wellness programs to companies in over 130 countries. Chestnut Global Partners' Division of Commercial Science develops and deploys scientific assessment technologies, outcome measures, and analytical methodologies so that EAPs, wellness companies, disease management entities and purchasers the world over can determine the effects and/or worth of their programs. For more, visit www.chestnutglobalpartners.org.

Contact: Charles Epstein - Backbone PR / [email protected]

SOURCE Chestnut Global Partners