Employee Assistance Program FAQs

Staff and their immediate family members wishing to access free, confidential, short-term counselling services for work or non-work related issues are able to contact the department's external EAP provider, LifeWorks by Morneau Shepell (LifeWorks) on telephone 1800 604 640.

This is a 24/7 telephone number. Urgent after hours counselling requests will be put through to an on call counsellor. All non-urgent counselling requests received after hours will be booked to occur during business hours. No departmental referral to LifeWorks is required.

LifeWorks have a large number of counsellors located across the state in all major regional areas for staff wanting a face-to-face appointment. In smaller regional and more remote areas, LifeWorks is able to provide telephone counselling.

All conversations with the external provider are confidential, within the ethical boundaries of the professional codes of ethics. If the external provider is concerned that an employee has the potential to self-harm, then in this context, they would discuss the appropriateness of contacting a doctor or next of kin. Case notes kept by the external provider can only be accessed when required by law.

No. If you access the EAP counselling service outside of work hours or during leave, you do not have to tell your principal or supervisor.

Yes. To do so you will need to liaise with your principal/supervisor for approval for time away from your work duties and their decision will be based on operational needs. However, you may choose to see the EAP counsellor outside of working hours if you prefer not to discuss this with your principal/supervisor.

All staff and their immediate family members are entitled to access up to four (4) counselling sessions per calendar year.

EAP counsellors can provide short-term counselling and advice to help you with work or non work-related issues that may be impacting on your psychological health. In doing so they consider your individual circumstances and provide advice on the options available to you for addressing work and non work-related issues.

Any notes made by the external counselling service are stored securely by the EAP provider. These notes can only be accessed where required by law.