Note: this is a follow-on from our previous blog post: “Can’t HR provide workplace therapy?”
When people hear the word “therapy”, many aren’t sure exactly what it means. They might know that you’re supposed to feel better after receiving therapy, but how this happens remains a mystery.
It’s partly for this reason that HR professionals can be expected to provide all manner of what is seen as ‘people’ support: for example when an employee becomes seriously ill, or they’ve been absent from work following a traumatic incident.
Yet as we explored in our previous post, HR professionals are not qualified – and even if they are, they are not best-placed – to offer therapy to employees who are struggling with long-term illness or trauma.
What is employee therapy?
However, the question remains: what exactly does therapy involve, especially when provided in a workplace context? How do companies know that their valuable investment in employee therapy is safe?
Our registered, qualified team at Beyond EAP partners with enlightened HR professionals, to provide specialist therapy that helps employees face some of life’s toughest challenges.
As such, we are well aware of some of the misconceptions people have about what therapy involves. I’ve personally had conversations with company directors who assume I’ll treat their employee’s brain like a malfunctioning computer: quickly logging in and deleting the past!
Building a motorway
Nobody, not even the most eminent therapist, has the power to delete or remove a person’s past. At Beyond EAP, our approach to employee therapy involves guiding them gently towards building new associations and default reactions, to create healthy neural pathways over time.
I liken the process to building a brand-new motorway alongside an old road, down which an employee’s thinking has travelled for years. The road isn’t demolished, but the motorway soon evolves into the default route for new thinking-processes.
How long does employee therapy take, and what do sessions involve?
From our extensive practice, we have seen time and time again that around seven sessions of therapy is the optimum number to help build new associations and patterns of thinking.
The exact therapeutic methods we will use varies by employee: no two people are the same, so our approach is completely bespoke. However, in addition to talking therapy we will educate and train the employee around the neuroscience of the brain.
This helps them understand how they react in certain situations, and how to make the changes they most want. We also use a range of handouts, worksheets, and homework in-between sessions to instil new behaviours and coping strategies.
At the end of each session-programme, we provide HR with a confidentiality-protected End of Programme Report, which details both the employee’s feedback and our recommendations.
Your trusted and reliable partner
Life moves at a rapid pace, and so do we. Once we are notified about an employee who requires our help, we will contact them either on the same day or the next.
As an HR professional, you need to know that we are reliable. And of course, if your employee is reeling from a traumatic event, or has finally opened up about their crippling depression (for example) then it’s extremely important that they receive the right support, quickly.
If you’d like to know more about the employee therapy we provide, you can soon download our brand-new eBook, which takes you inside a typical Beyond EAP therapy session. It’s ideal for those interested in learning more about our approach and why it’s so effective.
You can also contact us to discuss a specific employee or situation in confidence.