Frequently Asked Questions

• It’s estimated that 9.8 million working days a year are lost through stress, anxiety and depression.
• It recognises the need to support the interests of the company and the employee.
• It helps maintain and improve workplace effectiveness and performance – personal and work-related problems can impair an individual’s ability to work effectively and efficiently.
• It gives reassurance and peace of mind to users.
• It reduces the amount of time-off work that employees might otherwise need to set up and attend appointments with specialist advisors.
• The management information generated by a Health Assured EAP (Employee Assistance Programme) can be used proactively to target ‘hotspots’ within the organisation.
• Our knowledge and experience can then guide the organisation to the best practice solution, which can help reduce or eliminate issues.

• When people encounter problems they often lose sight of their strengths and capabilities and don’t know what they want or how to achieve it. The first task is to find out what might be possible in the future, and then explore the past and present to identify resources and experiences that might help them build this better future.
• It’s usually a positive and uplifting process.
• It works for many problems.

• All calls are answered by qualified and experienced counsellors - they can assess the nature of the callers' problems, to offer interventions such as telephone counselling, arrange face-to-face counselling, or to direct them to practical helplines.
• All our helplines are staffed by fully qualified personnel.
• Support is available in many international languages.
• We operate one of the largest networks of qualified face-to-face counsellors in Ireland. This ensures that we find the best possible match between the issues the individual is facing and the specialities of our face-to-face counsellors, without the need to travel long distances.
• We offer manager training. Knowing how and when to refer an employee to use the EAP can help reduce the pressure on managers;
• Health Assured actively promotes the EAP within the client’s organisation. Included in the service are a range of launch materials. We can provide employee presentations. This encourages employees to use the service.
• We provide management information on the EAP utilisation.
• We are one of the pioneers in EAP provision in the Ireland. We have many years of experience providing and developing EAP in Ireland.

You will be provided with a free phone telephone number when signing up to an Employee Assistance Programme for circulation throughout your organisation.

• The helpline is open 24 hours a day 365 days a year.

Health Assured EAP offers guidance and support on a wide range of issues including:

• Consumer rights, legal issues, debt or domestic matters – the counsellor will assess your requirements and transfer you to an appropriate specialist, eg legal, consumer, or financial information.
• Personal – marital, relationship and family concerns; emotional issues; anxiety; depression; trauma; substance abuse; behavioural difficulties; bereavement; and sexual identity. The counsellor will conduct an in-depth assessment establishing the impact of the situation on the individual. If appropriate, the telephone counsellor will commence immediately, otherwise the counsellor will agree a convenient time for the caller to begin counselling sessions. However, if it becomes apparent during the assessment that face-to-face counselling would be better the individual will be referred to a suitable professional.
• Work-related – the counsellors offer 24-hour confidential support for work-related concerns such as stress, bullying, anger management and career direction.
• Employee management – support to managers from counsellors, experienced HR specialists, or occupational health psychologists. This helps managers to improve their people management skills, and gives them guidance on how to best handle difficult employees or situations such as bullying, harassment and personal hygiene in their team.
• Health – advice on health issues such as symptoms and treatments, medication and surgery, inoculations, travel vaccinations, lifestyle programmes (eg quitting smoking).
• Child and dependent care – such as advice on caring for children, elderly relatives and disabled dependants, and searches for finding care homes, nurseries etc.

Health Assured counsellors and advisors help the caller put their issues into perspective and work with them to find practical ways to address their problems. They don’t tell callers what to do, but they will help them understand their problem and take positive steps to resolve it.