UK employee assistance professionals association - PDF document

IT and technologySelf-managementManaging your session limitsContinuous professional developmentManage your incomeSelf-care7.0 Sources of further information provider will usually discuss their clinical assessment with the affiliate counsellor, whoshould also be prepared for the clinical picture to change by the time they see theclient, particularly for clients that present in crisis. Short term therapy may be a solution in itself or a first step to open ended or longerterm work. Often the EAP is used to support clients while they are on NHS waiting listsor looking for or needing other treatment. Whichever is the case, the affiliatecounsellor must manage the work carefully so that the ending is clear from the outset.When working with EAP clients, affiliate counsellors need to consider the EAP providerwho is still contractually responsible for the case. They should be included in yourreporting and you may be required to complete additional documentation. Often sharingsuch responsibility can be uncomfortable for an affiliate counsellor, especially if they arenew to EAP work. Therefore, itÕs important to think about this aspect of the work carefullyand, where necessary, discuss it in supervision, to confirm that EAP work is right for you. Each EAP provider is likely to have different approaches to programme elements suchas private contracting with clients, payment rates and case management procedures.You may be asked to sign terms of engagement or a contract; do check exactly what isrequired of you before you start. The commercial considerations of working with an EAPprovider, including contracting, are discussed later in this Guide. As mentioned earlier, EAP counselling is designed to work within a limited fixed numberof sessions and when a referral is made to you the EAP provider will advise you on the manage their affiliates (and who conducts the case management), but all providers willhave a system in place for monitoring the work of the affiliate counsellor. Regardlessof the system that is in operation, you will be expected to fully cooperate with it.Being organisationally awareIf you have particular experience of working within certain industry sectors (such as theNHS or the banking sector) or have worked with particular groups of employees (forexample, those exposed to vicarious trauma), it is important to let the EAP Providerknow as many providers will only recruit to fill a particular geographic or skills gap intheir network. contract for you to sign. In so doing you will not be committing to accept any workfrom the provider, nor will be the provider be guaranteeing any. However, you will becommitting to deliver a service to the standards outlined in the agreement and for therate specified. Once you have signed and returned the contract, the next step will normally involvean orientation session. This is usually done by telephone, often by the CaseManagement or Affiliate Management team. The purpose is to brief you on theprocesses and protocols you will be expected to follow once you receive referrals, as