Employee Assistance Programs

Employee assistance, as a profession and as a practical endeavor, is in serious trouble. Employee assistance programs that seemed so promising when they were initiated have fallen far short of their potential. Here, the author addresses the need for employee assistance programs to return to traditional roots, recover original purpose and vitality, and resurrect their true mission. The field is in an advanced state of dissolution. Why have employee assistance programs, which seemed so promising when they were initiated, fallen so far short of their potential? There are many reasons, including a preoccupation on the part of employee assistance professionals with vague notions of change and diversity without a corresponding concrete idea of what those terms mean, why they are desirable goals, or how to achieve them. There is also a lack of emphasis on management's role in anchoring employee assistance in the worksite. The solutions that are often proposed fall into three categories: trying to be all things to all people by including welfare-to-work and outplacement functions; discarding the traditional structure of employee assistance altogether while chasing the latest fad; and integrating employee assistance with managed mental health care. All three will fail, because none addresses the need for employee assistance to return to its traditional roots, recover its purpose and vitality, and resurrect its true mission. This book does address that need.

This landmark text discusses current issues and trends to help employee assistance and human resource professionals do their jobs better and help people live happier, more productive lives by providing them with the resources to deal with personal problems. The current spiraling and escalating rate of change within the business and working world, fueled by other events and phenomena since September 11, 2001, were the impetus and driving force behind the initiative and development of this new fourth edition. This book contains 43 chapters; a total of 21 are from the first two editions, eleven were written specifically for the third edition, and eleven new chapters were exclusively written for this new fourth edition. While savoring the still pertinent, meaningful and relevant-to-today materials from the previous editions, there are nine new updates, written by an all-star team of experts in their respective areas. The topics include history and philosophy, structure and organization, client services and characteristics, program planning and evaluation, professional and paraprofessional training and development, special issues, selected examples and future directions. An excellent textbook for college and university courses and preparation source, this book is a must for professionals wanting to be up-to-date on employee assistance programming, for students in graduate courses and seminars, for college and university courses, and in-service training and continuing education programs.

Understand the challenges faced by university based EAPs and the strategies to effectively meet needsand discover what works and what does not Academia is a diverse workplace unlike any other, and subsequently, employee assistance program (EAP) issues are unique. Employee Assistance Programs in Higher Education focuses on the unique challenges of employee assistance service delivery in a university setting. This handy resource discusses the evolution, development, and strategies in managing an EAP in academia while comparing the substantial differences in program application between academic settings and corporate settings. Discussions include outsourcing, support groups, implementation of services, and effective model frameworks. Employee Assistance Programs in Higher Education explores in depth how the difference of being an academic institution influences the administration of an EAP. Reducing costs, assessing the value of an EAP, faculty resistance to accessing EAPs, organizational and interpersonal problems, manager support groups to reduce stress, developing ’soft skills’, and addressing the deaths of faculty, staff, and students are examined in detail. This unique resource is extensively referenced and includes tables to clearly present data. Topics in Employee Assistance Programs in Higher Education include: the evolution of the IAEAPE university EAP response to traumas on campus enhancing faculty access university EAPs and outsourcing creating a specialized EAP program comparison between academic and corporate cultures case study of the University of Saskatchewan EAP and more! Employee Assistance Programs in Higher Education is a comprehensive resource for academic administrators; benefit plan managers; university based EAP managers and directors; EAP, work/life, and wellness professionals; members of International Association of Employee Assistance Professionals in Education; Employee Assistance Professionals Association; Employee Assistance Society of North America; Association of Work Life Professionals; Society for Human Resource Management Schools of Social Work; educators in schools of social work, psychology, counseling education, and business.

Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) are a relatively new development in South Africa, having emerged in the 1980s, and this groundbreaking book provides a comprehensive overview of these EAPs in South Africa. It gives readers a first-hand view of the myriad issues encountered by South African practitioners. Employee Assistance Programs in South Africa provides EAP professionals, human resources managers, social workers, psychologists, and other mental health professionals with startling insight into the significant clinical, cultural, and ethical problems that their South African colleagues face in the workplace. It begins to fill the gap in the literature on professional practice in an apartheid society and can help develop opportunities for dialogue and an exchange of ideas between all EAP workers to help educate them and bring them together. This enlightening and potentially controversial book addresses a variety of pertinent topics, including: the conceptual sophistication of EAPs currently operating in the South African business community an evaluation of the macro model EAP in South Africa in light of the country’s sociopolitical, economic, and social problems cultural concerns facing black and white EAP practitioners and clients ethical conflicts inherent in working in an environment sanctioned by apartheid widespread alcohol and drug problems in South Africa the development of a post-traumatic stress and accident involvement program current educational developments in the EAP field in South Africa Providing a thorough, clear understanding of South Africa’s EAPs, this is an ideal book for all professionals and advanced students interested in the effects of political, societal, and cultural values on the operations of EAPs in a foreign country.

The Employee Assistance Program Coordinator Passbook(R) prepares you for your test by allowing you to take practice exams in the subjects you need to study. It provides hundreds of questions and answers in the areas that will likely be covered on your upcoming exam, including but not limited to: interviewing; assessment and referral of troubled employees; preparing written material; characteristics and problems of alcohol and substance abuse clients; individual and group counseling; and other related areas.

This book presents a comprehensive cross-section of experienced professionals who discuss their efforts to fully integrate employee assistance, work/life, and wellness services.

This Key Issues report addresses questions often raised by employers and union leaders setting out to develop job-based programs to help alcoholic and other troubled employees. Following chapters on the historical development and key components of EAPs, the authors discuss the importance of balance in program strategies and in corporate and union responsibilities. The authors also present examples to show the role EAPs might play when the problems of alcoholic and other troubled employees lead to arbitration and workers' compensation cases. The focus in the concluding chapter is on the future of EAPs—the need for more research and further development of educational programs for EAP practitioners.

From their roots in the occupational alcohol programs in the 1940s, human services programs within organizations have grown exponentially. However, the seamless integration of each facet of those expanding programs into a cohesive whole has proven to be a major challenge. This book presents a comprehensive cross-section of experienced pro

Make sense of the managed care systems that dominate the world of EAP professionals and programs today! Employee Assistance Programs in Managed Care gives you a valuable overview of modern employee assistance programs. It compares and contrasts EAPs with managed behavioral care products and examines how EAPs are often provided in conjunction with managed care services. This timely book, vital in today’s ever-changing EAP climate, will familiarize you with essential managed behavioral technology such as the application of medical necessity criteria. This is especially important today in an environment dominated by employer- or insurer-sponsored managed care systems. You also get a helpful directory of EAP/managed care companies Employee Assistance Programs in Managed Care is your guidebook to today’s EAPs, providing vital information about: the services modern EAPs offer to employers and employees participating in networks to provide both therapy and EAP services how EAPs interface with managed behavioral care organizations how EAPs are sold how EAPs are marketed and managed today professional issues--certification, credentials, ethics, and more ways that counseling professionals can participate in them to the advantage of their clients--and to their professional practices EAP professionals, clinical social workers, professional counselors, psychologists, benefit consultants, insurance brokers, psychiatric nurses, and clinical nurse specialists can all improve their practices and stay current with Employee Assistance Programs in Managed Care.