State Employee Assistance Program (SEAP) Coordinator Training
After completing this course, you will be able to:
• Ensure adequate visibility of SEAP services
• Manage agency SEAP training
• Provide consultation services to all segments of the workplace
• Monitor employer based referrals
• Troubleshoot SEAP issues for employees
• Identify and respond to situations that require on-the-job interventions
As a SEAP Coordinator, you play a vital role in the implementation of SEAP in your agency. Your responsibilities are intended to ease referrals, and to serve as the liaison between labor, management, the Office of Administration, the SEAP contractor and the employee. You are not responsible for disciplining, policing or defending employees or acting as a mental health professional. To ensure you have the foundational knowledge to fulfill this role, let’s cover some of the program basics. SEAP is a free assessment and referral service designed to assist commonwealth employees and their family members in resolving a variety of personal problems that may lead to deteriorating employee job performance. Through a concerted approach by management and labor, SEAP provides the education, information, intervention and treatment necessary to maintain a healthy and productive workforce. SEAP provides clinical services to employees and their family members, as well as workplaces/agencies. United Behavioral Health (UBH) provides these services. All agencies under the Governor’s jurisdiction are required to participate in SEAP. All other agencies have the option to participate. All participating agencies’ employees, including those designated as temporary, part-time and seasonal, and their family members (parents, spouse, partner, children, siblings, other household members) are eligible for the following:
• Unlimited free usage of the SEAP toll-free number (1-800-692-7459 TT 1-800-824-4306 ) answered 24/7 by Master’s level clinicians.
• Up to three free face-to-face sessions with a clinician per issue per year.
• Referrals to community-based organizations for assistance
• Free financial telephone consultations. This service does not recommend or sell any products, and can be used for both debt counseling and basic financial education.
• Free legal telephone consultations. Face-to-face consultations are free for the first 30 minutes. If hired, network attorneys offer a 25% discount on their standard rates.
SEAP provides the following services at no charge:
• Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD)
• Employer based referrals (also called “mandatory referrals”)
Additional consultation services are available from the Office of Administration, Workplace Support Services Division, which include discussion of employee issues and recommendations for options for dealing with those issues. Now that you’re familiar with the program basics, let’s review your SEAP Coordinator responsibilities.
Ensure SEAP visibility
You are responsible for distributing promotional materials and conducting activities designed to make employees aware of the services offered by SEAP.
• Be the SEAP “cheerleader” in your agency. To do this effectively, you must be a vocal proponent of the program and have a strong understanding of its benefits.
• Take every available opportunity to let employees know what you do and what SEAP can offer.
• Write SEAP-related articles for your agency’s newsletter.
• Schedule time to cover SEAP in new employee orientation sessions.
• Hold special agency meetings to discuss SEAP and its benefits.
• Be creative! Try to develop new strategies to get the word out about SEAP .
SEAP brochures and cards can be obtained from Office of Administration-Workplace Support and Services Division.
Manage agency SEAP training
You are responsible for ensuring all employees, supervisors, managers and union stewards are trained on how to use the SEAP program, and that mandated and recommended SEAP training occurs in your agency. This does not mean that you personally must conduct training sessions. Use OA and agency resources to determine how to best meet the training requirements. All training must be completed once every two years. All instructor-led materials can be obtained via the OA-SEAP website. You are also responsible for completing and submitting your agency’s annual SEAP Training and Promotional Activity report. It includes information related to:
• Number of employees trained in the previous year
• Training plan for the upcoming year
• Types of training conducted
• Types of promotional activities completed
The report must be submitted to OA-SEAP by the end of the first quarter each year.
Provide consultation services
Supervisors, union stewards, and employees may have specific questions or concerns related to SEAP. You may be asked to speak to an employee who may appear to need SEAP services. Sometimes it’s as simple as dialing the SEAP telephone number for the employee. Whatever the need, you are the main contact in your agency for SEAP issues. Please review M505.3 SEAP Supervisory Manual to become familiar with SEAP policies and procedures for managers and supervisors. Consultation services may include:
• Providing information or suggestions
• Clarifying agency procedures
• Explaining the program
• Supporting referrals
• Discussing sensitive and confidential matters
• Motivating an employee to use SEAP
• Managing Critical Incident Stress Debriefings (CISDs)
IMPORTANT: Consultation is not behavioral health counseling. SEAP Coordinators are not expected to act as mental health professionals. If an employee looks to you to fulfill this role, encourage them to contact SEAP. If they are hesitant, offer to help them make the initial call. Also, remember confidentiality. All sensitive and confidential information provided by the employee during consultations cannot be shared without written permission from the employee.
What is a Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD)?
Offered to agencies for employees who have experienced a traumatic situation, and is designed to enable them to return to work fully functional. A CISD is held when a traumatic situation overwhelms the employees’ normal ability to cope. A trained SEAP professional will lead the group through a process in which they can identify their reactions, learn that those reactions are normal and how to manage those reactions. A CISD is voluntary and confidential. No attendance is taken, and nothing said in the group will be shared by the clinician without the group’s agreement. The group size should be no more than 20 to 25 employees. Those invited should be those who were affected by the traumatic incident, and may include employees outside the immediate work unit and/or employees who were involved in response and/or first aid efforts. It should not be held within the first 24 hours, as individuals will be emotionally still in the shock phase. It is most effective when held 48 to 72 hours after the event, but still can be effective up to 30 days later. Some examples of possible situations warranting a CISD include:
· workplace violence incident
· serious worksite accident
· suicide
· unexpected employee death
CISD Procedure for SEAP Coordinators
If you are notified of a traumatic event:
• Making room arrangements
• Publicizing the CISD
• Scheduling a pre-meeting with the clinician
• Introducing the clinician to the group
• Providing SEAP supplies (cards and brochures)
5. CISD occurs
6. OA-SEAP contacts you to determine the satisfaction level of the CISD service.
Monitor employer based referrals
You are involved in gathering information and requesting approval for employer based referrals, which include:
• Independent Psychological Evaluations (IPE)
• Licensed Professional Referrals (LPR)
• Commercial Drivers License Referrals (CDL)
• Department of Corrections Drug and Alcohol Referrals (DOC)
• Condition of Continued Employment Referrals (COCE)
IMPORTANT: All employer based referrals must be approved by OA-SEAP before being discussed with the employee and/or the union.
Once approved, you are responsible for monitoring these employer based referrals. You serve as the conduit of information, and can provide recommendations if appropriate. You do not enforce rules or discipline an employee. You serve as the single point of contact for the case, and coordinate activities within and between the agency and UBH. If there are questions or concerns regarding an employer based referral, you are the point of contact.
SEAP Coordinator and SPF Coordinator Interaction
For employees who are on an employer based referral, any paid leave taken to attend SEAP appointments will appropriately be coded as SPF Absence.
• Notification can be done either verbally (preferred method) or by e-mail.
• If notification is done by e-mail, a notice must be attached to the e-mail that information is confidential and cannot be forwarded.
• Copies of the actual IPE/self-disclosure letters or contracts (COCE, CDL, DOC, LPR) cannot be forwarded to the SPF Coordinator.
• If the employee is not eligible or entitled to SPF Absence, OA-SEAP must be notified immediately and the employee may choose to use other paid leave available (i.e., annual, personal, holiday and compensatory).
• OA-SEAP and agency staff will consult with OA Bureau of Labor Relations as necessary.
• OA-SEAP will provide all leave information to the SEAP-CCO.
• Failure to return the form will not affect determination of eligibility or entitlement to SPF Absence, and no employment consequences will result.
• If no request form is returned to the SEAP Coordinator, the absence will be entered as “YS” (paid sick) until accrued sick leave is exhausted, then as “YUSO” (unpaid SPF Absence).
You will receive compliance reports from SEAP-CCO (generally about once per month), showing the dates and times of evaluation and treatment appointments that were attended and the anticipated frequency of future appointments. Provide dates and times of kept appointments (if employee is fit for duty) or dates of absence (if employee is not fit for duty) to the SPF Coordinator, as well as the anticipated length of treatment (if known) and the anticipated frequency of future appointments, either verbally or by e-mail. Copies of the compliance reports cannot be forwarded to the SPF Coordinator. Notify the SPF Coordinator when the employee is no longer in active treatment and provide the date of that transition either verbally or by e-mail. This includes an employee who has moved directly from evaluation to follow-up status. The employee is not required to provide a release to return to work, other than the standard documentation provided by SEAP.
For employees who use SEAP as a self referral, all regular SPF policies apply. A SEAP excuse for absence note will be a trigger to start the SPF process.
Additional Information:
• If you work for an agency centralized for administration of SPF Absence, OA-SEAP will provide you with all information for employer based referrals.
• Employee appointments may occur during non-work hours to avoid using SPF Absence.
• Attendance at self help groups, such as Narcotics Anonymous (NA) or Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), are not considered to be medical appointments, as the services are not being provided by a licensed behavioral health clinician. An employee may not use SPF Absence to attend these services during work hours.
• Certification of the need for absence by SEAP (either self-referral or employer based referral) will not provide eligibility for SPF Absence above and beyond that to which the employee is entitled.
Troubleshoot SEAP issues
This responsibility is intended to remove barriers that may prevent employees from using SEAP services. Examples may include:
• Problems with evaluations
• Leave usage for counseling appointments
• Requests for specialized training
• Problems in making referrals
If employees are dissatisfied with services provided by SEAP, encourage them to complete and submit the SEAP Complaint Form. Information provided in the SEAP Complaint Form helps OA-SEAP identify issues and improve the program. If employees contact SEAP clinicians because of issues pertaining to commonwealth policy or specific work-related incidents, SEAP will refer the employee to you. SEAP clinicians cannot address these types of issues. In these situations, try to determine what was said to the SEAP clinician. Ask open-ended questions to elicit details about the conversation. When appropriate, refer the employee to your agency Labor Relations, EEO, or HR Office, or the employee’s union representative for clarification and resolution.
Identify and respond to situations that require on-the-job interventions
Another responsibility for the SEAP Coordinator is identifying and responding to situations that require on-the-job interventions.
Identifying
Behaviors that may indicate the need for an on-the-job intervention include:
• Severe mood changes
• Verbal or physical threats directed at self or others
• Bizarre, extreme, or unacceptable behaviors
• Withdrawing
• Frequent and unwarranted periods of crying or laughter
• Overreacting
Responding
The Coordinator does not provide direct services in these situations, but contacts SEAP, and represents the agency in arranging for appropriate services.
If you have questions, please contact:
Office of Administration-SEAP (OA-SEAP)
Susan Moravetz
(717) 787-8575
fax: (717) 772-3153
SEAP Referrals
1-800-692-7459
TT: 1-800-824-4306
Management or Union Consultation
1-800-662-9206
This version of the course is intended for individuals who require an accommodation for a disability. Once you have fully reviewed the information in this training, contact your Human Resources Office to request credit for completing this course.
You will not receive credit for completing this course until you do so.