Each Training Hospital provides free counselling and pastoral care for doctors in training and this is offered through their Employee Assistance Programme (EAP).
Employee Assistance Service provides a free confidential counselling support and referral service for all staff with personal or work related difficulties.
Employee Assistance and Counselling Service (EACS) provides confidential professional support and counselling to employees. This free service is provided to support employees at a time of difficulty with personal and or work related issues.
Trainees and Surgeons do not need to contact HR or their line manager to access this service. The service is provided across each Community Health Organisation, Hospital Group, Primary Care Reimbursement Service and National Ambulance Division. Depending on your work location, the EAC Service will be provided by internal practitioners and may also be provided by an agency provider. All practitioners within the service are accredited and required to maintain continuous professional development standards.
You may require urgent or out of hours assistance and if this is the case, you should contact your GP immediately.
To view Employee Assistance and Counselling Service Providers CLICK HERE
For more supporting information, please CLICK HERE
You can phone or email the service in your area directly. You do not need to discuss this with any one and you can access it at a time and place that suits you. The majority of staff who attend EACS phone directly to the service.
You can access this service by clicking HERE
You will be treated in a respectful manner. You can expect the highest standards of professionalism in a service where your wellbeing is supported at a time of difficulty. All EACS providers are bound by strict standards of confidentiality and a code of Ethics as required by their accrediting body.
You will meet your counsellor / EAC practitioner and they will outline the process. A consent form relating to the process will be signed by you and the counsellor / EAC practitioner.
The EAC is intended as a short – term service. If the service is provided by an internal EAC counsellor/ practitioner the number of sessions is agreed between you and the counsellor directly. If the service is being provided by an agency an upper limit of 4 sessions applies. This may be extended to a maximum of a further 2 sessions.
There is NO CHARGE or fees that you have to pay to avail of this service.
No. This is a one to one arrangement between you and an independent service. Your details are anonymised from the moment you access the service. There is no sharing of information with management or other services. Your counsellor / EACS practitioner may recommend that you avail of a specific service and will be able to discuss this directly with you in the confines of your session. Notes taken in the course of your EACS journey are maintained in complete confidence
The EACS provided is a quality, accredited professional independent service.
Each EACS counsellor / practitioner is required to attend regular clinical supervision as it is an essential requirement for best practice. Clinical supervision is a formal confidential arrangement with a trained and accredited supervisor.
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