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Employee Assistance Programme to launch on 1 November

27 Oct 2021

New health and wellbeing service for all staff

For many of us, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought our health and wellbeing into sharp focus. In these challenging times, our University is more aware than ever of the importance of wellbeing and we want to ensure that the right services and support are in place to enable our staff to sustain and improve all areas of their health.

Enhancing the services and support on offer is a key priority. To achieve this, we are launching a new Employee Assistance Programme.  This free, confidential service will be available to all staff. 

The Employee Assistance Programme will enable our staff to talk in confidence with qualified counsellors and advisors, as well as access to a range of online resources to support health and wellbeing.

The new service is provided by Validium, and will cover emotional and physical health, mental health, relationships, managing stress and anxiety, money issues and more.

Features of the Employee Assistance Programme include:

  • A 24/7 helpline for support with any aspects of wellbeing or mental health.
  • Online and face to face counselling support for work and personal issues – where staff need counselling this can usually be arranged in just a few days.
  • Access to money and debt specialists for help with any financial matters.
  • Legal advice on a range of issues including family, consumer, motoring or property law.
  • An online app with a range of wellbeing resources and access to e-counselling.
  • A dedicated helpline for managers to help them with managing sensitive or difficult issues.

The Employee Assistance Programme will be available from Monday 1 November, replacing our current 24/7 mental health helpline for staff. The new service is in addition to our in house counselling service and other wellbeing provision and colleagues can choose to access either.

Further details will be published on our Wellbeing Staffnet site when the new service commences.

Students will continue to access their existing provision and colleagues should continue to refer students to services provided by Student Support.

  • Employee Assistance Programme helpline: 0800 358 5997 (available from 1 November 2021)