What are EAPs?

CCP Direct

Whilst trauma aftercare remains its specialism, the Centre has developed a brief, problem-focused, solution-driven counselling service, CCP Direct. This model of work is derived from our successful practice of delivering brief interventions following trauma. In all but exceptional cases, this model of work can be delivered by telephone. With our extensive experience of medico-legal work, we also offer a service of psychological reporting.

In contemplating Employee Assistance provision, you must decide what the objectives are in providing the service to employees – whether it is to be merely an employee “benefit” (e.g. providing advice services which are often available free elsewhere) or rather an active tool to assist employees through stress-related and other difficulties to benefit both them and the company through the positive effects on work performance.

CCP Direct believes that the service should be primarily targeted at the latter, and should be part of a company’s Health & Safety or Wellbeing at Work strategy. It may be decided to target particular areas of concern on the basis of stress audit or other information. The service should also be promoted as a source of advice for managers in handling distressed or difficult colleagues. CCP can however source other advisory services e.g. legal advice if required.

Research shows such counselling to be effective, reducing sickness absence, and in many cases shows a positive cost:benefit ratio. In addition, current case law indicates that a company providing such a service is unlikely to be found in breach of duty of care.

Q. What is an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)?

A. From time to time, most employees will find themselves in a situation where normal coping strategies appear inadequate. The psychological consequences of these have an impact on individuals’ work performance, costing your company in sick-leave and underachievement. EAPs help protect your investment in your people, promoting wellbeing in the workplace by providing solutions for the human problems that affect your business through constant psychological support for businesses and their people. CCP Direct provides both employer as well as employee assistance. EAP’s essentially provide free counselling to employees and sometimes their families. In addition to confidential counselling, they may offer a range of advice services – debt, medical and legal.

Q. Who are the CCP Direct Advisors?

A. The Centre distinguishes itself on the basis of the quality of its work. To this end we employ a full-time team, which the Partners remain a part of as clinicians as well as acting as business managers. CCP does not use a ‘network of associate counsellors’; the callers who use CCP Direct receive support and advice directly from our team. Only an organisation that directly employs, manages and supervises its own staff is likely to meet the British Psychological Society guidelines on quality of psychological debriefing set out in its June 2002 report.

Q. Surely telephone counselling is not as good as face to face?

A. There is no reason why it should not be, but there are indeed specialist interventions that need to be delivered face to face.

But the medium is not really the point – the choice of counselling model to be used is what really matters. Often a 5 or 6 session limit is placed on the number of counselling sessions an employee is entitled to. Yet three session (the so-called “two plus one” interventions), which are brief and focused, are shown to work as well as more frequent counselling sessions.

Q. What should the caller expect from the telephone call?

A. The model used for CCP Direct callers is derived from CCP’s long and successful experience of trauma intervention techniques. It provides short-term intervention for ongoing problems, which is problem focused, action orientated, solution driven, and dependency avoiding.

Q. What difficulties could CCP Direct assist callers with?

A. Although not an exhaustive list, some of the issues that CCP Direct callers been supported through include:

Typical Work-Related Problems

• Long-term absence
• Disciplinary issues
• Redundancy
• Accidents
• Sudden death
• Assault, of threat of violence
• Harassment (sexual, racial, age, disability, gender, etc)
• Relationship problems at work
• Anxiety, depression and stress at work
• “Whistle-blowing”
• Bullying

Non-Employment Welfare Problems

• Illness, of self or family
• Marital and relationship problems
• Legal and financial difficulties
• Bereavement
• Alcohol and drug abuse
• Car and other accidents
• Assault, rape and other abuse
• Damage to home or property
• Burglary
• Holiday trauma

Q. Will the organisation get any feedback?

A. CCP Direct naturally respects individual client confidentiality. However, we seek to work as closely as we can with key workplace recovery stakeholders, with the client’s agreement. We seek to provide as much statistical feedback as possible to identify problem areas and trends, which should facilitate the company’s consideration of its work environment to reduce stress/absenteeism etc.

Without breaking individual's confidentiality, CCP Direct will provide regular feedback and an annual report to the organisation’s Human Resources Department with statistical data, to include:

• Number of cases
• Number of calls
• Problem type breakdown
• Support provided