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Employee Assistance Programs for Individual Help
Many
corporations have internal Employee Assistance Programs, which
usually are in the form of peer counselling or having a nurse
on staff to counsel individuals who are in difficulty. The
best of these EAP programs have counsellors who are trained to
recognize problems they cannot handle effectively and who will
make referrals to appropriate health care professionals.
Many
corporations contract out Employee Assistance Programs. Services
are contracted on a pre-set basis, for example four or six sessions
per year per employee. Counselling services in these arrangements
are frequently not provided by psychologists. Psychologists
are the health-care professionals uniquely trained to assess,
diagnose and treat emotional, behaviour, cognitive and relationship
problems. In cases in
which the problem does not resolve in the prescribed number of
sessions, employees are generally required to make use of their
extended health care benefits and seek assistance from psychologists
practising in the community. The biggest drawback in this
arrangement is the necessity for a person to begin at the beginning
with a new counsellor after 4 or 6 sessions.
Some
corporations refer all employees who seek assistance to psychologists
practising in the community. The costs of
these arrangements are typically divided between the corporation
and employee extended health plans but are sometimes covered
solely by employee extended health care plans.
If your employer or union sponsors an assistance program that supports external counselling or therapy, you may be able to have the fees for services in the community covered. Alternatively, extended medical-insurance coverage may pay for part or all of the costs, please see our page on fees and insurance coverage for more information.
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