Your EAP, or Employee Assistance Program, is designed to help you out when you need it the most. If you or any of your family members have any personal problems like addiction or psychological issues that must be dealt with, then the EAP is available in order to help you work through them. You can also use your EAP for help in dealing with stress, traumatic events or anything that impacts your emotional, physical or mental health. Since your EAP is built into your employment, you will not need to pay a fee for these mental health services. However, you will have to use your employer’s designated mental health provider.

Taking advantage of your employers’ EAP will not mark you as undesirable or flawed in any way. The program is confidential, and you only need to inform whoever you wish that you are undergoing a mental health counseling program. The entire point of using your EAP services is to make you a stable, balanced and productive member of society again, so that anything that you need to undergo – therapies, counseling, and/or medications – will be completely beneficial to your mental health.

If you are dealing with the symptoms of depression (overwhelming sadness, feeling extremely tired all of the time, thinking dark thoughts) or are hampered by one or more of the many forms of anxiety (anxiety attacks, excessive worry, sleeplessness, stress about small uncontrollable things), then you can use the Employee Assistance Program that is provided to you by your employer and get the help that you need.

The entire point of having an EAP in place is in order to ensure that every employee has good mental health and is at their most productive. If you need to use your EAP to work out a few issues (like stress) or get necessary mental health care, then by all means, use it. The program will not cost you anything, and is paid for entirely by your employer.

In order to use your employers’ EAP, you need to go to a designated mental health care provider, like Insight Psychological Inc. We can help you figure out any costs that you might have to pay on your end, if any, depending on your employer’s particular EAP plan. Then we will give you a psychological assessment in order to determine an effective course of treatment. Before you know if, you will feel like your old self again – or a better version of yourself!

Author's Bio: 

Cory Hrushka, M.A., R. Psych., C.S. D.S.T. is a Registered Psychologist, Diplomate of Sex Therapy/Sex Therapist and is the Executive Director of Calgary, Edmonton, and Red Deer Alberta based Insight Psychological.