In this book, contributing scholars, practitioners, and researchers offer their practice experience and findings related to creating workplace wellness with emphases on the intellectual, vocational, physical, social, psychological, and spiritual needs of workers and the structures and policies within their workplaces. The first section of the book, “The Hazardous Workplace,” addresses the stressful workplace, workplace violence, bullying, and counselling in an environment where stress is high and work entails more than the usual amount of risk. “Workplace Responses,” the second section, examines the history of occupational assistance, several models of employee assistance practice, the workplace management of dis/abilities, complications around drug testing on the job, the relevance of spirituality to the workplace, an Aboriginal perspective on work, and an evaluative mechanism for occupational programming. Intake and assessment, crisis intervention, critical incident stress management, brief treatment, counselling employees suffering from depression or experiencing grief, and the role of mediation inside and outside of the workplace are explored in the third section, entitled “Practice to Create Well Workplace.” And finally, four Case Studies comprise the final section, spanning the country while representing five very different work sites, including a child welfare organization in Ontario, the workforce of the University of Saskatchewan, a Canadian public sector employee assistance program, and a religious site where occupational assistance has been applied to a church community.

Last spring, KGA (Kathleen Greer Associates) undertook a project to identify the current “Best 10 Behavioral Health Apps for 2014.” The purpose of the project was two-fold: 1) to equip EAP counselors with a variety of high-quality apps that could serve as an adjunct to counseling sessions and referrals for therapy; and 2) To draw attention to quality apps in the marketplace.

The “Age Wave” demographic shift has arrived. Every day, approximately 10,000 Baby Boomers turn 65. In addition, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reported in 2013 that more than 44.7 million people are age 65 and older, representing a 24.7 percent increase since 2003. This changing landscape raises a variety of issues, including how best to support our elders. Many working Baby Boomers are caring for parents in their 80s and 90s. And, younger workers are caring for those in their 60s and 70s who have health problems.

An exploratory study of Canadian EAP affiliates from Saskatchewan and Ontario was undertaken employing one focus group of four persons, and the completion of 12 open ended questionnaires. Participants on average had 23 years of clinical experience with a mean of 14.6 years of EAP specific practice. Participants became external EAP counsellors through two primary means, being invited, typically via an unsolicited telephone call or letter, or by actively seeking out to become an affiliate to supplement their existing private practices. Study participants in general enjoyed their work with this population, particularly the diversity of issues with which clients presented, and felt that providing counselling to this group was critical. However, they also highlighted several substantive issues they faced in fulfilling their responsibilities as EAP affiliates. The primary clinical and ethical concern was the inability to provide sufficient counselling hours to clients in need due to continuous pressure to spend less time with clients from their employers, along with a constant need to ask permission from less seasoned clinical directors for extra counselling sessions. There were inconsistencies between what participants’ perceived organizations were told their employees would receive regarding clinical services and what affiliates believed they were permitted to provide. EAP vendors did not acknowledge experience in terms of hourly compensation and during the economic downturn several participating affiliates had been asked to reduce their hourly rate. Several of those in the study who had not accepted were no longer receiving referrals. In general there was no training or support provided affiliates other than how to complete administrative forms and little if any input was sought from the affiliates regarding the organizations for which they were working.

This slide presentation shares the results of a survey study conducted in 2018. It asked about three issues: 1) How the employee assistance program industry has changed over the past 30 years? - 2) What is important to purchasers of EAP today for buying services in general - and 3) Why employers decide to purchase one EAP over other EAPs? Data is from 155 senior level professionals with average of 23 years experience in EAP field.