Following a brief overview of alternative Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), this article proposes a comprehensive model of care for emergency service personnel. The pivotal element of the multilayered model is the Peer Support Officer (PSO) component providing early support to ambulance personnel following exposure to potentially traumatic events. After initial recruit training, peer supporters engage in professional supervision and annual psychological first aid education and counseling skill development workshops. The model is embedded within the workforce and is available to personnel for both work-related and personal matters. The success of the EAP relies on collaboration between the employer, professional counselors, and the trained peer support officers as well as extensive education and resilience building for employees. This article proposes that the model outlined offers high-profile, well-trained, and well-supervised peer support officers as an effective alternative to the more common approaches of the past, such as debriefing. Self-report, usage, and archival data collected across 18 years indicate the model offers significant benefits to employees and to their family members.
There is a paucity of literature and research published in refereed journals or books that evaluate Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) in an emergency service organization. The purpose of the evaluation presented in this paper was to identify levels of satisfaction with the established EAP in a particular ambulance service, using a scientifically robust approach. Hence, a mixed method was adopted which incorporated the collection of quantitative and qualitative, objective and subjective data. Survey data (n = 667) supported high to very high levels of satisfaction with the individual services the organization provides, the EAP program in general, and a high level of usage of these services by ambulance personnel. Usage data demonstrated that more than half of the staff in the organization utilised support services at least once in a given year and qualitative data reiterated the relatively high levels of satisfaction as well as elucidated some issues that require further investigation. Results supported the structure and delivery of this service's staff support program and provide orientation for future research.
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