The HSE Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) is a free confidential support service that aims to provide the right wellbeing supports and interventions for staff and service managers, at the right time.
These services include:
- EAP counselling for personal and work-related issues,
- psychosocial support,
- critical incident response
- manager consultation on staff wellbeing issues.
HSE staff have put in an immense effort in response to Covid, working long hours to support patients and colleagues alike. HSE staff are quite resilient and have adapted well to the challenges of redeployment and remote working. However, this period has seen an increase in demand for EAP supports with staff reporting higher levels of stress, anxiety, and emotional fatigue.
EAP has continued to provide staff counselling, psychosocial support and manager consultations. EAP has responded to changing staff needs by implementing new online services like video and telephone counselling. In addition, a new national EAP phone line (0818 327 327) was set up for easier access. The service has also increased the number of EAP counsellors available nationwide and launched the new EAP Inspire Support Hub which gives access to a range of high quality wellbeing resources that can be accessed 24/7.