Being a therapist is not enough.

With this issue of the Journal of Employee Assistance, Maria Hartley takes over the reins of EAPA's Communications Advisory Subcommittee. This special group of hard-working EA professionals guides the development of the Journal and the Exchange On-Line, selects the focal topics for each issue, contacts potential authors, reviews submitted articles, and generally provides support (and an occasional headache) for Stuart Hales, our editor.

In her "day job," Maria is vice president of First Sun EAP in South Carolina, so she has a hands-on understanding of the challenges involved in delivering EA services as well as an appreciation of both the historical roots of our profession and the need to anticipate emerging trends. You will find her new column, which sets the stage for the "Focus" articles in this issue of the Journal, on page 19.

Meanwhile, I feel privileged to have the opportunity to continue sharing "The View From Here" in this column. In each issue, with your help, I'll comment on topics important to the EA profession. I say "with your help" because I'll be counting on you--no matter where you live or work around the world--to alert me to important developments, trends, challenges, and opportunities that you are facing or that you see coming in the future. My e-mail address is at the end of this column.

Speaking of challenges, let's look at one directly related to this issue's focus, EAP services to the individual client. We all know that EAPs assist individuals with concerns ranging from the inconveniences of daily living to serious addiction, from workplace stress to severe crisis reactions, and from legal or financial difficulties to mental illness. To meet client needs in these diverse areas, most EAPs establish a network of service providers, typically therapists. EAPs usually inform these therapists of their documentation requirements and "how many sessions" they have within the EAP design guidelines, but most EAPs do not do an adequate job of educating their network therapists that being a therapist is not enough in an EAP setting.

Licensed therapists in an EAP setting have the same ethical and professional responsibilities to individual clients they would have in a private setting, but here the workplace or company is also a client. EAPs are not simply funding mechanisms to provide certain healthcare services to employees and family members; rather, they are workplace services to improve the functioning of the organization. In that sense, an EAP is not fundamentally different from a skills training program or an employee e-mail system--it is a tool to improve productivity.

The resulting "dual client" responsibility changes the role of a network provider from just a therapist to a consultant. Being a good therapist is necessary, but not sufficient. The dual client responsibilities of EAPs require providers to see that each client receives the services most likely to benefit both the individual and the work organization in the most cost-effective manner consistent with ethical practice. This means providers cannot assume they will act in their therapist role when an EAP client comes in their door. They can assume, however, that they will draw on their therapist skills to consult with the client regarding the full range of his/her personal issues and the best resources to help resolve them.

In many situations, a provider's assessment will determine that the client would benefit from therapy services the provider can deliver within the guidelines of the EAR In these cases, the provider and client will move into brief therapy mode. In other situations, however, the assessment will suggest that the client would benefit from services beyond, or different from, those the provider can deliver within the EAP guidelines. In these situations, the provider becomes a consultant to help motivate and link the client with the most appropriate treatment resources.

Since providers are licensed therapists, most clients will naturally assume that their initial session with a provider is the beginning of treatment or therapy. Unless providers understand, and communicate to individual clients, that their first role is to act as a "consultant" to help determine what is needed to resolve any issues or concerns hindering life satisfaction and/or work functioning, they will short-change both the individual and the work organization.

We who consider ourselves EA professionals need to do a better job of educating our network providers. I'm interested in what your EAP is doing along these lines. When you get a chance, please let me know. Thanks.

You can reach John Maynard by e-mail at [e-mail]