This year has seen the rapid growth in uptake of the in-house employee counselling services provided by Wellbeing Partners as companies organisations across the UK look for effective and sustainable approaches to supporting employee mental health.

This growth of workplace counselling reflects not only the acceptance of the need for organisations to support mental health at work, but also the realities that we face as employees and organisations in an uncertain world.

The past few years have been challenging to say the least.  The background uncertainty created by living through a pandemic, global insecurity as well as financial and environmental problems adds to the pressures of our personal and professional lives and the ongoing sense of flux has impacted not only the way we work, but our ability carry out our work effectively.

Here in the UK, the NHS mental health provision is experiencing unprecedented demand, with record requests for mental health services. Additionally, EAPs that were not created to cope with such levels of demand, are struggling and often failing to provide the necessary support for employee mental health issues. The inability of EAPs to cope has a knock-on effect, further burdening an already overstretched mental health service, and leaving employees with nowhere to turn for help.

A new approach is required, one that puts the needs of employee mental health at its core.  At Wellbeing Partners we believe that utilising our Workplace Counselling services is an efficient, effective and compassionate response to these issues and the workplace mental health demands of your team. Here are the main reasons why.

We are not an EAP: Wellbeing Partners are excellently positioned to offer the support that is needed and are set up to cope with demand in a way the EAPs are not. We are a dedicated service that has the skills, experience and personnel to realise what solution best fits the challenges faced by organisations.  Our Employee Counselling is a non-subscription, pay-as-you-use service that allows a greater flexibility for organisations and quicker access to mental health support for employees.

New Trend, New Approach: Responding to the mental health crisis requires a dynamic approach. Employee counselling is the emergent trend in workplace mental health, one that we have been using for many years with our clients. Our workplace counselling service is refined, effective and offers dedicated one-to-one appointments with staff in house or online to fit with their busy schedules.

Training and Experience: Wellbeing Partners are experts at providing workplace mental health and wellbeing support.  This is because we source and employee experts in their fields.  All our counsellors are BACP certified and, crucially, have at least 10 years’ experience in the field. They also all have extensive experience of providing employee counselling in professional settings and combine unrivalled training and experience that meets your needs.

Accessibility of Mental Health Support: Our Workplace Counselling offers a broad service that sees no problem as too big or too small.  EAPs find that because of demands placed on them they have to turn people away. Sometimes this is because their requests are deemed too small to meet the threshold for mental health support, or conversely, they are too big or complicated for the support they can offer. At Wellbeing Partners we welcome all employee mental health problems, offering a forum and safe environment for people to work through their challenges.

Prevention, Performance and Confidence: Our broad approach to challenges through our Workplace Counselling means that smaller issues can be dealt with before they develop into crises.  It means bigger problems get the timely support required to help people overcome them.  It increases people’s ability to engage in the workplace, to perform, whilst also receiving much needed support.  Our counselling also focuses on creating the framework and confidence that people need to maintain their mental health once the sessions are concluded, reducing likelihood of later relapses.

Employee Counselling is not a luxury, but an intelligent, supportive and economical response to mental health issues. It offers both short and long-term gains for individuals and organisations.  You may find it useful to introduce regular employee counselling sessions for employees, each led by a multi-qualified specialist.  Alternatively urgent employee mental health sessions can be booked on a case-by-case basis, providing a cost-effective, high-quality alternative to the more familiar EAP approach.

Learn more about our Employee Counselling services