Employee Assistance offers a wide range of services to faculty, staff, and their family members.
Counseling: Employee Assistance offers free, confidential counseling on a variety of issues, including work and personal stress, emotional issues, family and relationship difficulties, elder care concerns, substance abuse problems, and pressures resulting from financial and legal matters.
Employee Assistance counselors are a diverse group of licensed professionals, and they include an experienced Elder Care specialist and a Spanish-speaking counselor. All counseling services are strictly confidential and absolutely voluntary.
Consultation: Employee Assistance assists managers, supervisors, Deans, Directors, and other campus representatives who are concerned about someone at work. The concern may be related to job performance, working relationships, personal problems, or traumatic events.
Education and Training: Employee Assistance offers workshops on numerous topics, including those scheduled each semester (open to all faculty and staff) and those conducted in response to specific requests from departments. Employee Assistance also sponsors brown bag lunch programs and speaker series on personal, work-related, and family issues.
Groups: Employee Assistance can facilitate educational groups to assist individuals and work groups to understand and cope with reorganization, illness, death, or other significant events. Employee Assistance also offers support groups to provide peer support to participants with shared concerns.
Employee Assistance is located in the Tang Center, University Health Services, 2222 Bancroft Way, Room 3100. For more information, contact Employee Assistance at 643-7754 or visit the Employee Assistance website.
Your Role
Because Employee Assistance counseling services are strictly voluntary, it is important to educate your staff about Employee Assistance's free, confidential counseling program. Display publicity materials about Employee Assistance and keep a supply of Employee Assistance brochures available. Encourage staff to seek help for personal and interpersonal problems as you would any other problem or concern.
Consult with Employee Assistance staff when you have concerns about an employee. Your role is to help support employees with personal problems, but don’t confuse this with personal counseling. Supervisors can undermine their effectiveness by diagnosing or counseling an employee or by lowering standards or expectations to address performance concerns by. Employee Assistance's licensed counselors can help you to effectively support and manage employees facing personal or work-related problems.
Consider the needs of other employees affected by a co-worker in need of assistance, or affected by a significant event. Consult an Employee Assistance counselor about what services can be provided. For example, Employee Assistance can provide grief counseling to co-workers following a medical diagnosis or death of an employee, or workshops on change and transition following major unit reorganizations.
How the Service Works
Counseling Services: Any UCB faculty member, staff person, or their family members may call Employee Assistance for an appointment. Meeting times are typically available the same day or within three working days, and urgent/emergency situations are responded to immediately. Appointments are available during normal business hours, during lunch hours, and immediately before and after work. There is no charge for meeting with a Employee Assistance counselor.
All counseling services are strictly confidential according to the law. Employee Assistance offers one to three sessions to clarify and assess problems; resolve problems through short-term counseling as indicated; and refer individuals to community and health plan resources if specialized or longer-term help is needed.
Assessment: Employee Assistancecounselors assist in clarifying issues, prioritizing immediate concerns, and developing an approach to resolving the problem(s).
Short-Term Counseling: Employee Assistanceprovides short-term problem-solving services when it appears that the concern(s) can be alleviated or resolved within 3 sessions. These sessions are free of charge.
Referral: If the problem(s) require longer-term or more specialized attention, or if an individual simply wants information about community and health plan resources, Employee Assistance provides information on various agencies, programs, practitioners, and other resources. Fees for these other resources vary, and in some instances are covered under health plan provisions.
Consultation Services: Any UCB manager, supervisor, Dean, Director, or other campus representative may call Employee Assistance for consultation regarding concerns about someone at work. The Employee Assistance counselor will help the caller with information, referrals, and/or guidance to help support and assist the person with whom the caller is concerned, and to address the needs of other coworkers as indicated.
Consultation is also available when there are concerns about an entire work group, such as in the aftermath of the death of an employee or major department reorganization.
Education and Training: Education, training and support groups are offered on a variety of issues, by open enrollment in Employee Assistance programs offered to all faculty and staff, and by request from managers and supervisors for specific departments.
Lending Library: Employee Assistance has a small library of books, videotapes, audiotapes and hand-outs on the full range of personal issues that can affect faculty and staff.
For more information, call Employee Assistance at 643-7754.