If you have health insurance and we refer you to a treatment provider after your EAP assessment, you may have to pay an additional amount of money, per session, to the treatment provider. The insurance pays some, you pay some (co-pay). It is different with each employer, so we will tell you your co-pay responsibility at the time of your assessment and before your referral to the treatment provider. Remember, your EAP sessions are completely free to you, prepaid by your employer.
Q:
Is the EAP Confidential?
A:
Your EAP is a confidential service with a few federal and state law exceptions.
First - admitted child abuse which must by law be reported to Child Protective Services;
Second - if you tell us that you are going to harm yourself or someone else (suicide or homicide), we have a duty by law to protect you or the other person;
Third - if your records are mandated by a court order because of relevance to your committing a serious crime (murder, rape, armed robbery, etc.). Because all of the EAP counselors at EMPLOYEE RESOURCES are NYS licensed mental health/substance abuse specialists, your records are protected from any other requests for your records without your permission.
Fourth - If you come to the EAP as a result of a referral from your supervisor because of your declining job performance, we will never tell your supervisor anything about your personal problem unless you give us signed written permission to do so. We will, however, be able to tell your supervisor that you came for your appointment and that you are/are not following through with the recommended treatment plan, not what the plan is, or not what the problem is.
Beyond the above exceptions which we must tell you by law, if none of these exceptions applies to you, whenever you come or whatever you say to your EAP counselor is completely confidential unless you sign a written release giving us permission to speak to a certain individual. Without a signed release by you, we will never give out any information about you to anyone regardless who they are (boss, husband, wife, friend, MD, etc.).
Q:
Is the EAP Free?
A:
Your EAP is a benefit to you, prepaid by your employer. Depending on the contract between your employer and EMPLOYEE RESOURCES, you may have 1-8 sessions free to you. Most contracts are 1-3 sessions. Some are assess and refer only, some up to 8 brief therapy sessions. We will tell you what contract your employer has when you come in to see us.
Q:
What is a Formal "Supervisory Referral"?
A:
If you are called in by your supervisor because of some problem with your job performance (time and attendance, mistakes, accidents, attitude affecting others’ work, etc.), your supervisor may suggest that you go the your EAP. The purpose of this supervisory referral is to help you. If what is causing your job performance problem is really a personal problem, when you come to the EAP, you may work on the personal problem without anyone at work knowing what the problem is. Hopefully, you will then improve your job performance and clear your work record while resolving your personal problem. It is a win/win for everyone. While the supervisory referrals are only a small percentage (4-5%) of all of our referrals to our EAP, they are extremely important and very successful. Many employees jobs have been saved as a result of being given this opportunity. (Also see question on Confidentiality and Supervisory Referrals)
Q:
What is a Self-Referral?
A:
When you choose to come to your EAP on your own because you need someone to talk to, you are having a problem, you need a referral for medication, or any other personal reason, this is known as a "self-referral" (by yourself). All of the laws of confidentiality apply (See question on Confidentiality), and no one will know you came to the EAP unless you give us written permission to speak to a particular individual.
