EAP helps employees with personal issues

By Dijon Rolle (USAG Baden-Wuerttemberg)January 4, 2010

HEIDELBERG,Germany - Failing finances, marital problems, troubles with children and stress on the job - throw in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, and you could easily create just the right combination to trigger an incident of work place violence.

In recent months there have been several high-profile cases of this form of violence in both civilian and military work places, and professionals on both sides agree that prevention is critical to putting a stop to it.

Most military members are somewhat familiar with the resources available to help them deal with problems at home or at work, but what about government civilians' Where can they go for help' That's where the Employee Assistance Program comes in.

EAP is a free, confidential program designed to help civilian employees cope with any personal problems they may have at home or in their workplace before they spill out of control. EAP counselors link civilians to the appropriate professional resources within their community.

"EAP is something that the Army picked up about 10 years ago," said Heather Robinson, alcohol and drug control officer for USAG Baden-WAfA1/4rttemberg and EAP supervisor. "It was initially used in large corporations because they found that by having Employee Assistance Program counselors available, they could get to problems with employees."

Robinson said EAP seeks to go beyond " just disgruntlement in the work environment and occupational stress."

"But also any home life issues, drug and alcohol issues or finance issues that could be impacting job functioning," she said. "By doing that, they would by addressing it...be able to retain employees longer and the employers were happy in the work place, and it actually reduced insurance costs."

Bottom line, she said, is the EAP not only helps Army officials prevent workplace violence, but it also helps save money, manpower and time for both the civilian employees and their supervisors by tackling problems early on.

EAP counselors work out of the Army Substance Abuse Program, or ASAP, clinics.

"Sometimes there are identifiers, and they indicate that the employee has started using alcohol or drugs to deal with their issues, but the majority of the employees that we've gotten through the government so far, it's more been occupational stress issues," Robinson said.

EAP counselors do not conduct any actual clinical counseling, explained Amy Sensiba, ASAP Prevention Coordinator and Employee Assistance Program coordinator for Heidelberg and Mannheim. Counselors instead listen and act as a middleman to direct referrals to the right resources to address particular problems.

"We are not clinical," said Sensiba. "We counsel in a way that people feel comfortable to come, and sometimes we are the first ones they're able to kind of let it all out to. To say, here's my frustrations, here's what I'm dealing with."

Sensiba said the program's biggest goal is to reduce stress and frustration so that employees are productive in their jobs.

"As we all know, life presents its own difficulties and that often times affects our work. Anything we can do to help people reduce that stress works then to help them be more effective on their job," said Sensiba, who works with people dealing with everything from financial issues and adjusting to life in Germany, to former military members adjusting to their new lives in the civilian sector. She is also a military spouse and new to Germany herself.

"I think people get frustrated and overwhelmed because there's a lot of paperwork, there's a lot of 'go to,' and so people often get frustrated and don't seek out those services because of that. We're able to kind of break it down for them a little," said Sensiba.

A civilian employee can be referred to EAP through a self-referral or by an employer. Both are free, confidential and voluntary. Walk-ins are also welcome.

Although this program is designed for government civilians, Robinson said she and her staff also want to reach out to military leaders and Soldiers.

She said she encourages senior leaders or platoon sergeants working EAP-type issues to contact the EAP counselors and describe the situation and let the EAP experts assist. EAP counselors are familiar with resources that can be used to deal with issues.

"We're available to advise the platoon sergeants and senior leaders when they're kinda trying to function as helping the Soldier, we get them hooked up with the right people," said Sensiba.

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