Employee Assistance Program – Preferred Behavioral Health Group

What is an EAP?
Why Use PBHG's EAP?

An Employee Assistance Program, or EAP, is a set of professional services designed to improve and/or maintain the productivity and healthy functioning of employees in the workplace. It also addresses an organization’s particular business needs, utilizing special knowledge and expertise about human behavior, mental health and workplace patterns. When issues such as stress, mood problems, substance abuse, conflict and workplace violence affect performance, an EAP can be invaluable. It is a program designed to assist employees when they are having difficulties, whether personal or job-related, by providing easily accessible and confidential counseling and solutions. An EAP benefits the employer by providing training, consultation regarding problem employees and mediation, if needed. This helps to reduce absenteeism, turnover and healthcare costs over time. An effective EAP improves an organization’s productivity, supervisory effectiveness and overall work environment. Preferred Behavioral Health Group offers a full-service EAP with a variety of options tailored to specific companies or organizations. We have been providing EAP services in New Jersey for over 25 years. We employ licensed professional clinicians with diverse specialties who are available to provide assessment, short-term problem solving and referrals to long-term providers or other resources in the community. Self-referral visits by employees are entirely confidential and are not reported to the employer. However, when management feels the need to make a more formal referral of an employee to the EAP for work performance concerns, the employee must sign a partial confidentiality release; attendance, level of cooperation, progress and any recommendations the EAP makes are reviewed with the manager. For more information, call us at 1-800-542-0184.

Preferred Behavioral Health Group can provide the following comprehensive EAP services depending upon your specific needs: - Management/Supervisor Orientation and Employee Orientation for new EAP participants. - Management/Supervisory consultations detailing how to deal with or refer a problem employee, as well as follow-up consultations after a Supervisory Referral. - Experienced, licensed and credentialed clinicians with a variety of clinical specialties to address employees’ needs.   - A focus on customer service, which ensures employees are treated with the utmost respect and professionalism. - An affiliation with Preferred Behavioral Health of New Jersey, ensuring the professional expertise and resources to support appropriate referrals (including Substance Abuse Services, Psychiatric Evaluations or Outpatient Treatment) when EAP services are completed. - Professional evaluation and consultation for employees (and family members, if included in the plan), to assess and determine appropriate intervention. - Brief Therapy/Problem-Solving, when appropriate: - Employees are offered an appointment within 72 hours of calling, or within 24 hours in the case of an emergency. - A 1-800 phone number with 24/7 access. - Referral to other treatment professionals, levels of care and/or wellness and educational resources, as needed and determined by the evaluation. - Substance Abuse Professional (SAP) evaluations for those employees with positive drug/alcohol screens who have a CDL and come under DOT regulations or safety-sensitive criteria. - Critical Incident Response (CIR) or Crisis Intervention in emergency situations by trained and credentialed staff with experience in disaster crisis counseling. - Mediation/Conflict Resolution consultations between employees or employee and supervisor. - Effective Case Management and follow-up when needed with employees referred for further treatment.  - Coaching for those employees who have received an assessment and have a plan of action for improvement. - Employee Functional Assessments to evaluate managerial qualities and leadership skills, strengths and weaknesses, along with summary reports to the employer, including any recommendations. - Training Seminars for managers and employees on appropriate topics (typically four per year, or as requested). - Policy and Procedure Development. - Utilization reports, quarterly and year-end. - Employee awareness handouts, cards, posters and payroll inserts. - Three comfortable, convenient locations with both day and evening hours. For more information, call us at 1-800-542-0184.

EAP-related services

Management/Supervisor Orientation,Training and Consultation During the implementation phase of new EAP services, Preferred Behavioral Health Group provides orientation training to the management and supervisory staff in which participants will learn how to recognize a troubled employee, understand pertinent policies and procedures and how to refer an employee for problem performance or consultation. These training sessions will be at times and places convenient to the employer. Additionally, the EAP Director is available by phone or in-person on an as-needed basis to speak with managers or supervisors when they are dealing with a troubled employee and can assist in clarifying work performance problems and the effective process of referring employees to the EAP. Managerial training seminars are also available. Employee Orientation and Training Seminars The EAP is an employee benefit paid for by the company. As such, it is important that employees and their family members, if included, are not only aware of the existence of the EAP, but that the understand when and how to use it and how it can help them. To assist in communicating these issues, Preferred Behavioral Health Group provides an initial orientation to all employees describing EAP services and provides ongoing information and education to employees through periodic payroll inserts and posters at worksites. Employee training seminars are also available and will be tailored to the specific workplace environment, in consultation with the employer. Private Employee Consultation EAP consultation sessions will be provided to employees who request them on their own initiative and to employees referred by management staff. Preferred Behavioral Health Consulting Group offers two EAP models: The Professional Assessment and Consultation model provides up to three sessions to assess problems and determine appropriate intervention and/or referral. The Brief Counseling model includes up to six sessions and offers the opportunity to resolve many problems without referral for further service. Referral to Community Resources If brief therapy is not clinically indicated and a referral is appropriate, EAP professionals will help employees receive cost-effective services and assist them in feeling comfortable and confident about the referral process. Referrals are made based on the nature of the problem, the employee’s health insurance, their geographic preference and their financial resources. EAP professionals have extensive familiarity with insurance plans and local provider resources covering various levels of care and clinical specialty areas to ensure a prompt and professional referral transition process. Substance Abuse Professional (SAP) Services The EAP Director is a qualified Substance Abuse Professional (SAP) trained in credentialing in accordance with the requirements of the US Department of Transportation (DOT). Employees with a CDL come under the DOT’s drug/alcohol testing regulations, which state a SAP must be utilized for evaluation when a DOT employee tests positive. Preferred Behavioral Health Consulting Group’s EAP is one of the few to provide evaluations by an experienced certified SAP evaluations according to DOT regulations in the local area. The employer may choose to utilize SAP services for non-DOT, safety-sensitive employees who may have substance abuse issues or test positive for drugs or alcohol. Crisis Intervention Services In the event of an emergency or critical incident impacting employees, Preferred Behavioral Health Consulting Group has EAP staff that are trained and certified in Emergency Crisis Response, Psychological First Aid, Critical Incident Stress Debriefing and Disaster Counseling ready to respond immediately. Click here for more information about this service. Effective Case Management Preferred Behavioral Health Consulting Group provides the necessary follow-up to monitor any supervisor-referred employees’ adherence to any recommended or agreed course of treatment. EAP professionals will make progress reports to the designated employee representative, Human Resources personnel or supervisor on employees formally referred to the EAP. Policy and Procedure Development The Company’s EAP policies and procedures should be consistent with existing company personnel policies, particularly those regarding substance abuse on the job, illness, absenteeism, grievance and termination procedures. The EAP Director will assist in developing these complementary policies and procedures during the implementation phase of the EAP, if needed. Utilization Reports Preferred Behavioral Health Consulting Group provides quarterly and annual utilization reports that include information such as the number of employees/family members served, number of supervisory referrals, number of face-to-face contacts, referral sources, requests for supervisor consultation and the types/frequency of select problem areas and recommendations made. Also, all employee information is delineated into gender and age group categories. The employer then has a better idea of any areas to potentially address in the workplace with regard to training or risk management. To preserve confidentiality, these reports do not contain identifying information of the employee or family member. Regular employee satisfaction surveys are distributed to identify potential areas of concern for program and service development and improvement. Confidentiality Confidentiality is critical to those who use the EAP. To ensure this, Preferred Behavioral Health Consulting Group’s EAP has several protocols in place, which include all staff trained in HIPAA/confidentiality policies, and regular monitoring of all medical records by the EAP Director. When referrals to the EAP are made by a supervisor for an employee with a work-related problem, the supervisor initially obtains consent from the employee to contact the EAP by utilizing the Supervisor Referral Form. The supervisor or Human Resources designee will then be informed as to whether or not the employee kept the EAP appointment and is cooperating, and will also be informed of any further treatment recommendations. Additional information is released only with the employee’s signed consent. The outstanding customer service focus of all Preferred Behavioral Health Consulting Group EAP staff ensures that employees and their family members are treated with the utmost respect, integrity and professionalism at all times.

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