Employee Assistance Programs (EAP)

[donheld]

Have any of you gone through this to get help? If so I'd appreciate any comments you have about it.

Thanks.

[Sgent]

1. EAP's are a good resource

but if your already diagnosed with a mental illness, I would be suspicious. Depending on the program, they either may not be setup to help, or may try to help w/o sufficient training (or maybe perfectly good).

EAP's usually use bachelor's and master's level people w/o clinical certification -- since they can't work in private practice. They can be very good for marrige counseling, drug counseing, etc. Many EAP's also have systems setup to refer to a clinical counselor when needed.

In short, feel free to use the EAP, but just be extra assertive in making sure your counselor is qualified -- this means (IMHO) they are either a licensed psychologist, licensed clinical social worker, or licensed professional counselor. If seeking help for drug issues, they need to have one of the above or a license for drug treatment.

If you see the following, you should (IMHO) ask for someone else. Marrige & Family Therapist, Spiritual Counselor, Master Social Work, Bachelor Social Work, Master's in Educational Psychology, Ph.D. in Educational Psychology (if not APA Approved).