Using EAP for Psychosocial Risk

When I worked in an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) we knew that less than 3-6% of employees used that service, even though it was free. This is also supported by extensive research. In reality, what happens when people are in distress or suffering psychosocial issues they approach trusted family or friends, even in a crisis. For example, during the Beaconsfield Crisis we flew in a dozen clinical psychologists who sat in a room for 2 weeks doing nothing. Indeed, many more people approached clergy in town, some EAP or myself, as this was one of my roles. I had been working at the mine for 3 years prior to the crisis.

We also know that the safety curriculum involves nothing to equip safety advisors to tackle psychosocial risk. Moreso, we know that the approach of risk and safety to psychosocial issues is misguided and misdirected by the language of ‘hazards’. (https://safetyrisk.net/what-is-psychosocial-safety/).

We also know that you can’t tackle mental health or psychosocial issues with an immature and amateurish approach (https://safetyrisk.net/psychological-safety/) as has been dictated by regulators and associations. This puts safety advisors in a wicked position.

So, without skills or a mature professional consciousness about mental health, somehow safety people have to get their heads around the new regulations about psychosocial hazards.

A recent paper by Clearhead affirmats that EAP services are no longer fit for purpose regarding psychosocial risk. You can download the white paper here: https://www.myclearhead.com/en-AU/psrm-whitepaper

We also have a mammoth problem in the risk and safety sector that is consumed by individualist, behaviourist approaches to understanding psychosocial risk. Indeed, the language of ‘hazards’ demonstrates that Safety doesn’t even understand the issue.

Furthermore, Safety rarely talks about resilience because it remains preoccupied with Zero (https://safetyrisk.net/the-global-zero-event-this-is-safety/ ). And when you have groups like Sentis, AIHS and Forgeworks and regulators supporting zero (https://safetyrisk.net/the-sponsors-of-zero-are/) what hope has the industry got of escaping this delusion? (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/zero-the-great-safety-delusion/ )

And, when. You believe in zero, why would you want to know about resilience? You don’t need resilience unless you believe in fallibility and mortality as foundational to human personhood.

The enemy of psychosocial health is not ignorance and, there is plenty of that, but zero. Zero is the symbol that means we don’t have to skill safety people in Everyday Social Resilience (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/everyday-social-resilience-being-in-risk/). There’s no need for psychosocial safety in zero (https://safetyrisk.net/no-psychological-safety-in-zero/).

All Safety can do when confronted by psychosocial issues is to refer on, recommend EAP or put more hazards in the hazards register. This is not a bad outcome but it ensures that Safety remains mostly irrelevant to the challenges of psychosocial risk in the workplace. And, a three-day course doesn’t really help much.

The unfortunate outcome of the current approach is that employees remain ‘high and dry’ when it comes to psychosocial harm in the workplace. HR is little better.

Furthermore, with the focus on individualist, bounce-back, brain-centric, toughen up, grit, ‘hazards’, engineering and mental fitness, there is little hope that workplaces will develop what is most needed: Everyday Social Resilience.

It is not a bad outcome that people will continue to go to family and friends when they are experiencing psychosocial harm but we need to know that Safety propaganda about psychosocial hazards is mostly spin and marketing. When you believe that humans are a hazard (https://safetyrisk.net/the-enemy-of-safety-humans/) as the AIHS does, then what hope is there for Safety?

If you want to improve your skills in care, helping and compassion (rarely spoken about in safety), I would thoroughly recommend study with the AIPC (https://www.aipc.net.au/courses/diploma-of-counselling ). A number of people in SPoR have done this course and it is highly recommended.

You can also download the book Everyday Social Resilience for free (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/everyday-social-resilience-being-in-risk/) or we also have studies in Everyday Social Resilience (https://cllr.com.au/product/everyday-social-resilience-module-30/) that you would find helpful. The course has a focus on practical positive methods that work.

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Dr Rob Long

Expert in Social Psychology, Principal & Trainer at Human Dymensions

Latest posts by Dr Rob Long (see all)

• HOP is Traditional Safety - October 9, 2024
• Defining Safety by the Absence of Accidents, Injury and Harm - October 9, 2024
• Visual and Verbal Mapping of Risk in SPoR - October 7, 2024
• Making Nothing Happen in Safety - October 7, 2024
• Understanding the Nature of Performance and HOP - October 5, 2024

PhD., MEd., MOH., BEd., BTh., Dip T., Dip Min., Cert IV TAA, MRMIA Rob is the founder of Human Dymensions and has extensive experience, qualifications and expertise across a range of sectors including government, education, corporate, industry and community sectors over 30 years. Rob has worked at all levels of the education and training sector including serving on various post graduate executive, post graduate supervision, post graduate course design and implementation programs.