Employee assistance programs for police

Peer Support Officers provide suggestions on how to manage the stress and emotional reactions that can occur from a Critical Incident.

Substance Abuse Drugs and Alcohol is a major concern today due to the difficulties and dichotomy that this problem presents, not only in the First Responder field, but also in one's personal life. Substance abuse can occur through the excessive use of alcohol and illegal drugs, prescription and non-prescription. If continued, substance abuse can and will have a significant impact on an individual's health, career, and personal life. Based on these factors, each agency that we are affiliated with encourages all of its Personnel, as well as family members, to utilize ACCESS EAP for assistance in finding treatment for their addiction.

Reaching out for assistance is the first step in getting help for any problem. Procedurally, there are two scenarios that Peer Support Officers cannot keep confidential:. Laws regarding confidentiality in Pennsylvania are Title 42 - Confidential communications involving law enforcement officers and - Confidential communications to peer support members.

What can Access EAP do for me? What is a Peer Support Officer? Procedurally, there are two scenarios that Peer Support Officers cannot keep confidential: A person poses a clear and present danger to himself A person poses a clear and present danger to others Some important things to note: Peer Support Officers do not take notes of any kind during or after a peer session.

Content of a meeting with a Peer Support Officers , or the fact that a person has even spoken with a Peer Support Officer cannot be revealed without a signed written release from the individual. In s, there was already what they called In-House Stress Units who would try to arrive at some kind of an intercession with the employee regarding their problem. They would also attempt to hold stress seminars within the department or bring in outside councilors after a particular major incident. The public law obliged federal agencies to put up programs regarding alcoholism for the sake of the federal employees.

This was followed other public laws and issuance from the Office of Personnel Management OPM ordered federal agencies to offer range of human resource services to federal employees which would grow increasingly from time to time. As for the case of law enforcement organizations, the materialization of EAPs helped the expansion of the involvement of mental health professionals and the improvement of their services.

However, not all law enforcement organizations adopted EAPs in the same manner; their approaches varied and totally differed from another. As a result, most law enforcement organizations separated EAPs from other services through a set of policies. With the internal program model, EAPs are operated by full-time agency employees who offer the traditional services of EAPs. However, this second program is being managed from inside headed by a certain agency program manager.

Lastly, through the combined services model, the program is executed inside the organization by using an outside contractor. According to Gund and Elliot , the third model is the most cost effective and efficient program in the realm of federal law enforcement organizations for it is capable of providing a full range of EAPs.

Nonetheless, the external model is capable of accumulating more self-referrals and is efficient in handling family members, while the internal model is more competent in receiving higher supervisory referrals and is effective in dealing with chemically dependent employees who are referred to by their supervisors. Each police organization offer different EAPs just as other occupations do not offer the same kind of EAPs as the police organization.

Beaverton Police Department offers psychological assistance to employees at the city expense. Employees who needed this assistance could be referred to by the supervisor or the administrator through the Chief of Police or by himself or herself through the Chief of Police or the Department of the Human Resources. However, an employee is directed straight to psychological assistance if he or she was directly involved in a shootout or an accident which resulted to death or a grave injury.

Mental health service is also being provided, Beaverton Police Department even encourages their employees to utilize the said service especially those who recognize a presence of possible mental health problems which may result to a serious case.

Another assistance provided by the Beaverton Police Department is the traumatic incident assistance which is meant for employees who were involved or affected by serious incidents. In this assistance, the administration would provide counseling services, legal representation, etc. Also included in the traumatic incident assistance is the administrative leave without loss of pay and benefits. Those who suffered from a traumatic incident will be provided with short and long term mental health support.

Also, it also offers legal counsel at the expense of the city to employees when a claim is made against him or her as long as the act being complained is not done due to negligence or other reasons in the same line. Aside from professional support, the EAPs also provide spiritual support. In line with an involvement in a traumatic incident, the EAPs will provide the services of a police chaplain in order to give the employee and his or her family a spiritual consultation to prepare them from the possible moral and ethical effects of the incident.

The Chief of Police will even assign some employees of the department to make sure that the personal needs of the involved employee are also provided. It also offer grievance procedures, the issues covered of this procedure are organizational policy, nature of service delivery, corruption, safety, harassment, dishonesty, ethics, work agreement violations and bargaining agreements Beaverton Police Department, Lastly, the EAPs also offers legal advice to employees connected to a present ongoing criminal investigation and to employees who are involved with other offenses which are traffic violations, city code violations, and traffic crimes.

EAPs could provide a number of benefits, by just looking over the Beaverton Police Department, their employees are being provided with numerous free services — psychological assistance, mental health services and traumatic incident assistance, professional and spiritual support, additional support resources, grievance procedures, and legal advice.

The employees are encouraged to fully and properly utilize the mentioned services in order to achieved positive emotional health and efficient flow in the workplace. Furthermore, aside from the free services provided by the organization, EAPs also have other benefits. Generally, according to Bayer , EAPs provides four key benefits and they are: 1 support for the employer, 2 support for the employee, 3 preventive care, and 4 emergency consultation.

EAP gives employers a helping hand in handling a convoluted employee setup. It helps the employer avoid impulsive actions like putting an outstanding employee under a disciplinary action just because his or her performance slipped without thinking of helping him or her to get back on track. The employer should give the employee a hand in solving his or her personal problems that are hindering him or her perform properly Bayer, Thus, EAPs assist the employer when it comes to helping the employee by formulating an effective plan which both of the employer and the employee would agree on.

It will save the employer from losing an exceptional employee and rescue the employee personal problems, and even leading him or her back to right track where he or she would be able to sustain his or her productivity Bayer, The program also helps the employees in determining their existent problem on why they are getting stressed, distressed and depressed and on why they are resolving to alcohol and drugs. Aside from consultations and counseling, EAPs also offers access to few educations and on-site training where one can learn about how to identify depression, stress, personal problems and substance abuse problems Bayer, It also provides information on how to solve the enumerated problems.

Lastly, EAPs can provide crisis counseling if necessary, like during an emergency like robbery or a serious physical accident Bayer, Thus, to lessen the chances of growing distress and impairment, EAP could provide a therapist who could go to the workplace and give stress debriefing.

However, more importantly to an organization — mostly, business organizations, EAP could help in saving money Bayer, This is possible because EAP could help an organization in lessening health insurance costs, company downtime, loss of productivity, and moral problems.

With the likes of eBay and Uber in its clientele, Lyra Health tops the list. In addition to the above, the company also offers self-service tools online exercises and resources that individuals can access through an app and on-site therapy. To get a closer look at the services, you can also request a demo. CuraLinc Healthcare is another well-known name in the employee-care and behavioral health industry.

From coping with addictive behaviors and substance abuse to managing work-life balance, CuraLinc Healthcare solves a wide spectrum of personal issues. The has an extensive model for its EAP model, depicted in the following illustration:. Participating members i. You can request a proposal here. To make matters a bit worse, there is a stigma around discussing money problems.

To make things easier, Cascade Centers provides a wide range of counseling services — with a focus on personal finance. You can expect the following services with its employee assistance program:. You can request an appointment, proposal, or schedule training — all on their website. If you're interested in learning more about employee assistance programs, then check out our HR Certification Courses.

Ulliance offers one of the most comprehensive employee assistance programs — focused on leveraging the power of content. The offers its EAP services through an app, which include:.

You can request a quote on their website. Simply provide your contact information, and specify the areas you need assistance with along with a few other details. Specializing in a wide range of healthcare services and with over 50 years of experience , Magellan Healthcare deserves a spot on this list.

The EAP is a blend of various online tools, on-site services, and resources that can help your employees overcome personal obstacles related to legal, finance, identity theft, elder care, childcare, and other problems. A company that specializes in assistance, care, and behavioral health services, BHS is best known for offering one of the most robust and complete employee assistance programs.