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An EAP is a confidential service providing professional assistance to employees and their dependents. It includes services in counseling, assessment and referral programs. EAP deals with a wide spectrum of emotional and behavioral issues that affect employees, from relationship to stress, mood disturbances and anxiety. It's just another example of how Quality HealthCare strives to provide every possible healthcare and wellness service for the people of Hong Kong.
An EAP orientation session will be arranged on site once the company has joined the program. For supervisors and senior management, a workshop on how to fully utilize the EAP is also available. The 24 hours a day / 7 days a week confidential hotline is available for the employees. Services provided by the hotline include crisis intervention, emotional support during a crisis, telephone counseling and appointment booking.
History of EAP
The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) began as an outgrowth of the labor movement. In the 1940s, organizations in the United States, such as DuPont, Eastman Kodak, and Caterpillar Tractors began to provide EAP and now it has become common practice, especially for large corporations. The development of EAP in Hong Kong started in the early 1990s and now plays a key role in focusing corporations' attention on employees' mental health.
Benefits and Advantages of EAP
According to a study done by Cornell University, the "100 Best" companies found that generous work/life benefits were linked with happier, hard-working employees, customers who received better quality products and enhanced service, and with an improved bottom line. Adapted from: Tittermore, J (August, 1995). "Not just a handout: Employee Assistance Programs prove that what's good for the employee is good for the employer". (CA Magazine, p. 49.).
EAP can also assist an organization and its employees to overcome the challenges initiated by crises and critical incidents. Our mental health professionals are clinically trained to handle crises in a caring and safe way. Individual and group career coaching services for executives and managers are also available.
Confidentiality
Contact between an EAP professionals and an employee is considered confidential. Information regarding an employee's use of the EAP may not be shared with any other party unless the employee provides written permission. The EAP counsellor is compelled to keep client information private as governed by the appropriate laws of Hong Kong and regulated by the professional ethics of the counselors' membership association.
Confidentiality is excepted in those instances when the employee/client has been determined to be a danger to himself/herself, or to others, in a situation when a court subpoena is issued, when disclosure is necessary for treatment, payment, or health care operations, and a auditing/program evaluation is required by an auditing/accrediting body.
All records are kept in a locked system and only EAP counselors have access. After ten years of the date of last contact with a client, client records are shredded. No written materials may be released to a third party without the client's written consent.
The use of 24-hour hotline is completely confidential as treated as other Psychological/EAP services.
Become an EAP affiliate counselor
As one of the providers of EAP in the Asia Pacific, we need to expand our network of clinical affiliates. If you would like to join our team please visit here for details.
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