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Even though, as George Santayana once said, the whole of life might be "a predicament complex and prolonged," most people can resolve life's issues on their own.
For those occasions when assistance is needed however, USC faculty, staff, and their dependents on all eight campuses can turn to the University's Employee Assistance Program for a free helping hand offered confidentially.
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| Jeff Cargile |
The program, which has been a major fringe benefit of University employment since the early 1990s, is now offered by a new provider, Life Services EAP to help faculty, staff, and their families deal with a large variety of issues.
"When people get into a crisis, we hope they'll reach out and use this," said Jeff Cargile, Human Resources' director of programs and services. But Cargile also wants University employees to be aware that the EAP is there for them in dealing with other more everyday problems, too.
"The thing I keep hearing is that people are using EAP for emotional situations, but also for assistance in finding elder care, child care, a will, power of attorney, or other things they just need to get done and they don't know where to turn for help. The EAP also can be used to help resolve on-the-job issues with co-workers, supervisors, or subordinates."
The EAP has a robust online legal assistance program on its Web site, and it offers a free 30-minute consultation with attorneys in the employee's local area with continuing discounted hourly rates.
Faculty, staff, and their dependents can get help 24-hour-a-day, 365 days a year anywhere in the United States by calling 800-822-4847. They'll be connected with a person at a call center who can immediately transfer them to an on-call counselor, or refer them to other service providers for assistance during business hours.
The service is available via a national network so that if employees or their dependents are traveling or for any reason are in another state they will still be able to get assistance.
If counseling is needed, the first four sessions for each issue the person is seeking help for are free. Beyond that, sessions may be covered under the employee's insurance provider. Cargile said most issues can be resolved within four sessions.
The majority of calls to the EAP are self-referrals, said Jane Jameson, vice president for human resources, and all of them are strictly confidential. Human Resources also can refer employees to the EAP and can make participation in counseling a condition of employment in those cases were there is extraordinary behavior, an emergency, or there are other extenuating circumstances, she said.
"This program has been a great help to supervisors and employees," she said.
USC's Human Resources Web page contains information on the Employee Assistance Program at hr.sc.edu/relations/eap.html. LifeServices EAP's Web site can be found at www.lifeserviceseap.com.
Cargile believes that most problems that people deal with on a daily basis are solvable if they get professional assistance for the problems early on.
"The thing we urge to supervisors and employees is don't wait until it's really bad before you seek help for a problem," he said. "If you can seek help when the problem has not escalated it's easier to solve and can be resolved much quicker. Most people can resolve life's issues, but for those who need help it's good to have this type of assistance."
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