Employee Assistance Program

EAPs can help with a wide range of personal and work-related issues, including stress, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, relationship problems, financial difficulties, legal issues, and more.

Yes, EAP services are confidential. This means that information shared with an EAP counsellor or provider is kept confidential and is not shared with the Guild or anyone else without the employee's consent, except in certain situations, such as when there is a risk of harm to oneself or others.

EAP services are available to pharmacists, pharmacy assistants and retail staff (including immediate family members) of member pharmacies who register through the Guild member web portal.

Employees can access EAP services by the dedicated helpline, In-app calling, instant messaging and email.

Yes, EAP services are provided at no cost to the employee or their family members. The Pharmacy Guild of Australia pays for the services as part of their employee benefits package.

Short-term counselling is not clinically appropriate in all situations. The TELUS Health approach looks at the intensity and duration of support required to determine if short-term counselling is the most clinically appropriate fit.

This may include seeking longer-term support from external services for more complex issues. TELUS Health clinicians have access to trusted networks of private and community resources for referral to additional support, and this is undertaken in consultation with the individual to tailor the most suitable next steps.

TELUS Health provides a number of case management activities to support clients to achieve their goals, including:

• Finding a GP or long-term clinician in the community
• Referral and providing handover to other services
• Monitoring progress between sessions.

Yes, you can use EAP services for a variety of reasons, including to get help with stress management, improve work-life balance, or receive coaching or guidance on personal or professional goals.

All calls are answered out of the Melbourne call centre and callers will be asked a couple of identifying questions such as:

• Organisation – The Pharmacy Guild of Australia or PGA
• Some personal contact details
• Job Title – Pharmacist or Pharmacy Assistant

As part of your member benefit you have access to 3 sessions per presenting issue but may have multiple issues per year.

As EAP is a short term and solution focused program it is best practice for you to continue with your existing care plan with your existing provider. That said, TELUS Health are available to support should you not be able to reach your regular provider.

The Guild’s EAP subscription does not include Critical Incident Support, but when you sign up to the EAP you have immediate access to this service as an add-on payable extra via LifeWorks should you require it. Your service will be invoiced directly from LifeWorks on a case-by-case basis, should you request this level of service.

LifeWorks uses a team of specialist clinicians with trauma response experience to provide appropriate and highly responsive critical incident support, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Their specialised Critical Incident Disaster Response support clinicians provide immediate guidance regarding the likely effects of a traumatic event, they will agree on an intervention plan, including clinically appropriate response times.

The LifeWorks team will also recommend the most appropriate intervention for your circumstances and will dispatch local clinicians to conduct onsite interventions.