Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)

Grades and Criteria

Individual Member

This grade is open to persons working in the field of employee assistance. Individual members are entitled to vote and to hold office. Individual membership is broken down into three categories:

Counsellor - You must:

Spend at least 50% of work time in the field of employee assistance, and
Be a current member of another appropriate professional body (e.g. BACP, BPS, UKCP), and
Be employed either as a counsellor by an EAP provider or be an affiliated counsellor of an EAP provider.

Operational Practitioner - You must:

Spend at least 50% of work time in the field of employee assistance, and
Be a current member of another appropriate professional body (e.g. BACP, BPS, UKCP), and
Be employed/contracted in the role of EAP account manager/client services manager/programme manager (and provide independent confirmation of this).

Consultant - You must:

Be a current member of another appropriate professional body (e.g. BACP, BPS, UKCP), and
Be employed/contracted in an EAP consultant capacity for the purpose of assisting companies in e.g. needs assessment, auditing, EAP provider selection and
Have at least 2 years experience in direct EAP provision or a closely related field of work as a counsellor, operational practitioner or consultant.

Associate Member

This grade is open to those who work as affiliates for EAP providers or as operational practitioners or consultants who wish to learn more about the practice of EAPs before moving to a higher membership grade. An Associate may also be a professional from another field such as occupational health, human resource, health and safety, union representation etc. Associates do not have voting rights and cannot hold office.

Retiree Member

This grade is open to those who carried membership of any of the above grades (or were nominated representatives) and were employed but who are no longer engage in work in the EAP field. A retiree member has the right to vote but not to hold office.

Registered External/Internal Provider

This grade is open to companies that provide EAPs. External providers will provide to other companies and will be a company registered in England or Wales. Internal providers will provide a service to its own company (a company registered in England or Wales). Registered providers nominate two people to have full voting rights, only one of whom is entitled to hold office.

All providers must prove that:

At least 50% of its working time is in the field of EAP.
It has adequate professional indemnity, public liability and employer liability insurances.
It is either an organizational member of a counselling related professional body (e.g. BACP, BPS, UKCP) or has a senior manager who is a member of such a body.
At least one senior member of staff is an accredited/chartered/registered member of the BACP, BPS or UKCP. (If this role is provided by a consultant, signed written evidence should be provided by the consultant that he/she has regular contact with casework in the organization and has the authority to stop malpractice. This should include the consultant's professional body, membership number and grade. The consultant should have at least an annual contract. Employees and consultants of providers should be aware that issues of malpractice within their oversight could be reported to their professional body and could impact their professional standing.)
At least one member of the management team has a minimum of two years experience of direct EAP provision.
There is a 24 hours access facility that meets the specific needs of the employing organisation.
Established clinical systems are in place for the effective and safe handling of suicidal and other at risk clients. There is a confidentiality policy, which is made available to employees.
When working through a network of affiliate counsellors, an established selection and recruitment process is in operation. This should detail all relevant criteria including acceptable levels of supervision requirements and adherence to Codes of Ethics.
All employed counselling staff have regular supervision. Supervisors must be appropriately trained/qualified.
Counsellors practice to the Code of Ethics of their professional body as well as abide by the UK EAPA Code of Ethics.

Internal Provider only

Staffing levels in existence are a minimum of one full time counsellor to 3- 5000 employees.

Organisational Member

This grade is open to organizations interested in EAPs.

They can include:

EAP providers that do not wish to be registered or are unable to satisfy the Association's requirements for registration.
Customer organizations that contract the services of EAP providers.
Healthcare, unions and other related organizations that work closely with EAP providers.
Government and non-government organisations involved in the development of legislation, guidelines, codes of practice etc regarding people in the workplace.
Organizations specialising in subjects such as alcohol or drug abuse, health advisory services, financial and legal advice and helpline services that are relevant to the workplace.