Employee Assistance Programme

Supporting staff and volunteers from Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprises (VCSE) Crawley

We know how much your staff and volunteers do for their communities and that the pandemic and all the associated challenges have taken their toll on many people’s health and wellbeing.

We are delighted, therefore, to have been funded by Sussex Health and Care Partnership (SHCP) to trial a way of offering support to VCSE staff and volunteers in Crawley. Crawley Community Action is working with our partners from the West Sussex Voluntary and Community Sector Infrastructure Alliance to offer access to an Employee Assistance Programme, Health Assured. This will be available to 1165 voluntary and community sector staff and volunteers across West Sussex.

SHCP is investing in this as a way of helping us to improve resilience amongst our organisations and especially for those organisations who may not have funding to access it themselves but who have been working tirelessly during periods of huge demand.

“The past two years have been a challenge for our whole health and care system, and our VCSE partners have been an essential part of how we have gone above and beyond to support people and communities. We know this has taken its toll on our workforce and volunteers, and I am delighted that Sussex Health and Care Partnership can show our appreciation and recognition through funding this vital source of support for those working in, and volunteering as part of, our VCSE” – Alison Cannon, Sussex CCGs Chief Nursing Officer.

What Support is Available?

• Life support: Access to counselling for emotional problems and a pathway to structured therapy sessions (employees only) at your convenience.
• Legal information: For issues that cause anxiety or distress including debt management, consumer, property or neighbour disputes (employees only).
• Bereavement support: Health Assured offers qualified and experienced counsellors who can help with grief plus legal advisors to help with related legal matters.
• Medical information: Qualified nurses are on hand to offer support on a range of medical or health-related issues offering practical information and advice.
• Online CBT: We recognise the value of self-help tools in dealing with a range of issues, which is why we have a range of CBT self-help modules, informative fact sheets and invaluable advice videos from leading qualified counsellors.

Helpline Services Available

Health Assured also offers support for you and your immediate family members*, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year by calling 0800 028 0199.

*Health Assured define immediate family members as spouse/partners and children aged 16 to 24 in full-time education, living in the same household.

How To Access Support (closed now)

Available to those who are employees or volunteers (or their direct family members) of VCSE organisations in Sussex. You can call the helpline mentioned above on 0800 028 0199 quoting West Sussex VCSE. To access the online health portal – www.healthassuredeap.co.uk  access codes are as follows:

Username: wellbeing
Password: WestVibeNote

 Please see attached PDF documents with more information on what is available and FAQs.

HA Calling the EAP Helpline – PR-GEN-0008-2

Offer Details 

The confidential support is available for 1 year until 28 January 2023 and reports on the scale of take up will be used to understand if there is a need across the sector. We know that communities will be facing difficulties and staff and volunteers in their local Voluntary and Community sector may need extra support.

This provider is used by many organisations (including Crawley Community Action) and businesses. It is hoped that confidential provision of support using an access code tailored for each area in Sussex (Crawley, West Sussex and East Sussex) will enable our VCSE to provide even more support.