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Employee Assistance Program

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EAP Services

General Information About EAP Services

The EAP assists staff, faculty, and their dependents with personal and workplace issues, including but not limited to:

Eligibility

Any staff or faculty member currently covered by UT Austin health insurance benefits may use our services. The EAP serves employees, retirees, and eligible dependents of the UT Austin campus, The Pickle Research Center, Applied Research Laboratories, Marine Sciences Institute at Port Aransas, McDonald Observatory, and the UT System Office.

Confidentiality

The EAP protects the privacy of your contact with our office. Even your initial contact with our office is private. Confidentiality is regulated by state and federal laws, as well as our professional licensing regulations.

We will not disclose the fact that you have consulted with us, the dates of your visits, or the content of our discussions with you without your request or permission. Even if your manager recommended that you contact the EAP, we will not disclose any information without your authorization, except in strictly defined situations.

Your EAP files are not part of your Human Resource personnel file. Use of EAP services will not jeopardize your job, or your chance for promotion. Maintaining your job and your chance for promotion depend only on your performance.

Cost of Services

EAP services are a benefit of your University employment. If additional services are necessary, EAP professionals will make every effort to help you locate services that are convenient, appropriate, and affordable. We can also discuss your options regarding mental health insurance coverage and providers.

Services Provided by the EAP

The EAP offers services in the following areas:

• Confidential Short Term Counseling

  • Short term, problem-solving counseling for up to six sessions per problem per year
  • Consultation and assessment of personal and work-related problems
  • Recommendations to the greater Austin community and other University services as needed
  • Assistance finding mental health providers on UT health insurance
    • Choosing a Therapist [PDF; 183K]
  • See also Personal Counseling: When to Consult with the EAP

• Manager Consulting

  • Consultation for managers, supervisors, and administrators related to employee and work-group problems
  • Coaching and joint meetings, as requested, with Employee Relations, Equal Opportunity Services, or other UT services
  • Assessment of potentially threatening or violent situations
  • See also Manager Consulting: When to Call the EAP

• Managers' Coaching Group

  • The UT Austin Employee Assistance Program offers a multi-session Managers' Coaching Group several times each year. This group is designed to help managers set and meet professional goals, identify supervisory challenges and create strategies to address them, learn about other UT Austin resources for managers, and receive support and guidance from other UT managers.
     
  • These meetings include discussion, articles, role-play, mini-presentations, and follow-up on goals identified in the first meeting. Groups are limited to 10 participants. We ask that you make a commitment to attend all of the meetings within the series. The group is facilitated by an EAP counselor.
     
  • To see when our next Managers' Support Group will be offered, visit the EAP Calendar of Events.

• Work-Group Consulting

  • Meetings with work-groups to address conflicts, changes, and challenges in the office.
  • See also Organizational Change: When to Consult with the EAP

• Crisis Debriefing Services

  • Available following any trauma or crisis experienced by a work-group (i.e., death or major illness of a co-worker)
  • Reduces stress that naturally follows any traumatic incident and maintains work productivity
  • See also When Something Bad Happens - Crisis Debriefing: Why, What & How
     

Making Appointments

Appointments by Phone/In Person

Call 512-471-3366 or come by our offices to schedule an appointment. We are located on the fourth floor of North Office Building A (NOA), Suite 4.200.  Office hours are between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Appointments by E-mail

If you would prefer to make an appointment with an EAP counselor via e-mail, you are welcome to do so. Due to the inherently insecure aspects of e-mail communication, please do not go into the specifics of why you wish to see a counselor in the e-mail. Do specify the days and times you are available and if there is a specific counselor you would like to meet with. The Office Manager will reply to your e-mail with the date and time of your scheduled appointment. Our address is eap@austin.utexas.edu.

Time Reporting

With your supervisor's approval, you may seek EAP services during the working day without taking vacation leave, sick leave, or incurring other penalties. If you do not want to disclose to your supervisor that you have an appointment at the EAP, leave time may be used as with any other personal appointment.

For after hours CRISIS situations, contact 512-471-3399 for immediate assistance.

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