Your company understands that all people, at one time or another, experience personal concerns and situations that may impact their job performance.
By providing free counseling sessions to its employees, companies can benefit in the following ways:
- Counseling can eliminate distractions that keep employees from reaching their full potential
- Losing an employee due to personal problems costs employers money to hire a replacement as well as losing the investment they have in the training and development of existing employees
- Having an EAP demonstrates to employees that they are valued by their company
The purpose of an employee assistance program, or EAP, is to assist your employees who may be experiencing either a personal or work-related problem in having easy access to valuable counseling services. Employees and their household members may use the counseling component of the program to help with issues in their personal lives. Household members are included in the EAP because their problems at home often affect the attitude and health of the employee while at work.
The issues for which EAPs provide support vary, but examples include:
- Anxiety and depression
- Emotional/personal conflicts
- Grief and loss
- Managing stress and change
- Marital conflicts
- Parenting
- Questions about alcohol and drug use
- Work performance/relationship issues
- Anger management
- Financial or non-work-related legal concerns
- Concerns about aging parents
Our EAP counselors are carefully selected and screened for their expertise in a variety of clinical issues and their knowledge of local resources. Our clinicians are licensed, have a masters or doctorate in the mental health field, and at least three years of post-graduate practice, including EAP experience. They are skilled in brief, focused therapeutic techniques to help the employee/household member return to the highest level of functioning possible in as short a time as possible.
The EAP counselors provide in-person and telephonic assessment, short-term counseling, referral and follow-up services. A predetermined number of sessions are available at no cost to the employee or household member to encourage early problem identification and problem resolution. Check your human resources or benefits personnel for the exact number of sessions available if you are unsure. If more specialized care is necessary, or when the number of EAP sessions has been exhausted, the EAP counselor makes referrals to the least restrictive, least costly means of assistance. This could include ongoing counseling through the insurance benefit, outpatient or inpatient treatment facilities, support groups or other local community mental health or social service resources.