To what extent does an EAP guarantee confidentiality?

[Waylander]

Ahoy.

I have been through the ringer several times. I am inclined to head this latest flare up of mental illness off at the pass, so to speak.

If I access the 'Employee assistance programme', how far does confidentiality protect me from my employer knowing about suicidal thoughts? Google only yields results for American law and I think my question is too specific anyway.

If I could explain my thought process to you, you could get a better understanding of my situation:

My issue, mainly, is that there is a financial and professional relationship between the two bodies. If I saw a counsellor privately, they would have no direct contact with my employer. Through the EAP, the person would know the nature of my job and the ease to which suicidal intent could come to fruition. Unless I show intent or am deemed at serious risk, no immediate action is required. Self analysis would conclude that it is my work itself that's partly responsible for my mental state. My role will change in a few years to 'dream job' however, I have been employed for less than 2 years and so am not protected by unfair dismissal laws. Would the EAP not be willing to risk this timescale and suggest I cannot continue my current role?

To be clear, I am not suddenly about to jump off a high skirting board into a cup of tepid water, holding AA batteries. So I do not need emotional support or platitudes. Simply, I have been under a lot of stress in several life aspects and am actively seeking professional help but am loathe to do so if it compromises my career.

[Chia.]

Unfortunately I don't know exactly how EAP works.

If you need someone to talk to about the suicidal thoughts then i'd like to suggest the samaritans (free). You can contact them anonymously, you don't have to give any personal details. You can give a fake name.

Although good ethics say that your confidentiality should only be broken if you are at a serious risk , I would like to highlight that this is literally a matter of ethics and there is little, if any, legal protection for you. It all depends on the person you get on the other side of the phone and if the EAP people are apart of the same company then it could all come down to workplace politics and power trips.
As long as the person does't write about you or identify you publicly outside of work then there is little you can do about it if they did decide to tell someone about your suicidal thoughts.

If you really want someone to talk to face to face then the safest option would probably be seeing a private counsellor, although this will probably be expensive. You can research them, make sure they are a member of a professional body, have lots of experience (don't pick someone newly qualified because they will most likely panic and be over cautious at someone talking about suicide) and talk about your need for confidentiality in your first session.
Talk to them clearly about your needs e.g. ask them if they will agree not to write specific things in your notes etc.

[squiggles]

Hi,
As a HR Manager for a company in the UK I can advise on what our provision is and how it would be arranged.
We outsource our EAP provision, so employees are given a number to call to seek support from the EAP provider. They can then provide counselling over the phone or 6 face to face sessions. IT can be more than 6 sessions with our agreement, we wouldn't be told the name of the employee, only that it was the counsellors recommendation and that the EAP provider was seeking funding from us.
In terms of the nature of what you discuss with the Counsellor we, the employer, would know nothing about it and would not even be informed of which employees had accessed the services. We get a quarterly report of how much the service has been used, in terms of percentage of our employees and comparison data from national statistics.
If you were deemed a risk to yourself or others then the Counsellor would break confidentiality but more likely to contact your GP rather than your employer.
I hope this help and give you some reassurance.
Liz

[Eir]

I reached out to EAP. There was the standard " if you give us reason to believe anyone is at risk of harm, we will contact someone" disclaimer. I told my boss I'd contacted the program but that wasn't necessary. And it was outsourced to a company, who outsourced to a local psych. Work only gets told that someone accessed it.
I'm in Australia tho.