An EAP (Employee Assistance Programme) is available for employees to access. The service includes ‘In the moment support’ from a BACP accredited counsellor, Structured counselling following assessment (*check with your HR team to see exactly what you have access to) and access to Care first’s Information team for practical information. There is also Management support, Mental Health first aider support and access to Care first’s digital platform. This article will focus on the counselling support and information specialists.
Counselling
Counselling is often considered an effective tool to help support with stress, low mood, anxiety and depression. Counselling can also be used to support a variety of day-to-day issues including; relationship problems, family issues, bereavement, work related issues, difficult life events and many more. Care first employ BACP accredited Counsellors who are all Management trained and qualified with the minimum of a Diploma. Everyone has very individual needs for support, Care first provides short term focussed counselling, so the Care first Counsellor will assess your circumstances when you call to establish what the most appropriate form of support will be for you. It might be that you just need a brief conversation with the Counsellor that day, or it could be that you may benefit from a few more sessions.
How counselling can have a positive impact on your mental wellbeing
- See your thoughts from a different point of view
Speaking to someone else, especially a Counsellor who is impartial and independent away from the situation can help to give you a different view point and may help you to think about things in a different way. - Feel less alone in your problems
Sharing any issues you may have with a Counsellor may help you to feel better because you have discussed it with someone else. A Counsellor can often be a good person to share your problems or worries with as they are impartial and non-judgemental. It may also help by getting “everything off your chest” and talking about your feelings may help you to feel less burdened by them. - Increased level of self-awareness
Looking at yourself by speaking to a Counsellor can help by seeing yourself from the outside looking in. This can be very beneficial at making you more content with yourself and may benefit your overall self-esteem. - Help you to take control
Counselling can help by identifying the elements in your life to focus on that you can control. This can help you to move forward. - Talking is good for you
Talking about issues may help you to start dealing with them. By not talking about issues, we tend to go over and over them in our mind which is not good for our mental wellbeing and can also affect other aspects of our overall wellbeing such as our sleep patterns for example. - Challenge your mind
By speaking with a Counsellor you may think about things from a different perspective and challenge your own mind to why you feel the way you do, how you might approach things differently, or what might be causing you to feel the way you do. - Can empower you
Talking therapies involve the individual and the Counsellor playing active roles. By you having to play an active part in the counselling may help you to feel empowered at a time when you may feel like you have lost control of your life or parts of your life. - Different Emotions
Counselling can help you to cope and manage with a variety of different emotions from grief, guilt, anger, sadness, confusion and low self-esteem to name a few.
How can Care first help?
If you feel you may need some emotional or practical support, you can contact Care first on the Freephone number. Care first is a leading provider of confidential, professional counselling, information and advice services. Whilst our BACP accredited Counsellors are available 24/7 to provide support with emotional issues, our expertly trained Information Specialists are available 8am-8pm Monday-Friday to provide advice on any practical issues that may be causing you a stress or worry and help you feel more in control of a situation. All employees are eligible to use Care first, our services include; telephone counselling, information services and online support.
All employees are eligible to use Care first, our services include; telephone counselling, information services and online support. Call Care first on the Freephone number provided by your organisation and you can speak to a professional in confidence.
If you would like to view the Webinar on ‘How an EAP can have a benefit on your wellbeing’ this is being delivered live on Friday 1st October at 12pm please use the below link to register for this session –
https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/5785438188540514572
If you are unable to join the webinar live, a recording of the session can be accessed using the same link above after the webinar has taken place.
Please be aware that Care first is an external provider and the information in their webinars may not fully align with advice from the University on some subjects