Having both a full-time job and a full-time personal life can be tough sometimes, and balancing the demands of each can be a real challenge. Here at COPE, our goal is to help employees and their families cope with problems that affect emotional well-being, whether they stem from work or from home. The idea is to improve the employee's quality of life, and at the same time create a healthier workplace for the employer.

Available when an employee has a personal problem of any kind, COPE offers confidential problem assessment by one of our professional counselors. These consultations are one-on-one, face-to-face meetings, which may be held either at the workplace or at COPE’s offices, and scheduled at the employee's convenience. Urgent situations are scheduled as soon as possible.

The counselor’s goal is to help the employee with practical, short-term problem solving, and to offer referral services when a longer-term solution is needed. As experienced, licensed, and credentialed mental health workers, our counselors know how to listen, and how to offer guidance objectively.

The consultations are free of charge for the employee, as well as for the employee's spouse/significant other and dependent children 18 years of age and older. In the case of younger children, our counselors will be happy to meet with the employee and/or the spouse, offer guidance, and make an appropriate referral.

All the employee has to do is call us. Our regular hours are 8:30am to 5:30pm, Monday through Friday, but our lines are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And no matter when the employee phones, the call will be answered by a person -- never a machine. The employee will be asked to leave a time and number where he or she can be reached. The employee can remain anonymous if desired, but this will limit what the counselor is able to do.

If the need is urgent, the employee must say so when he or she calls, and leave more than one contact number if he or she cannot stay by the phone. If the situation is life-threatening, 911 should be called first. When medical intervention is necessary, the employee should always first get to an emergency room. Our job will be to provide follow-up assistance as appropriate.

Our counselors help people with everyday problems in living, including emotional or marital problems, stress, depression and anxiety, family or relationship troubles, alcohol or drug abuse, workplace difficulties, and financial or legal referrals, to name just a few.

All of COPE’s EAP services are subject to certain rules and regulations which enforce the practice of confidentiality. The legal limits of these will be explained by the counselor, but in general, discussions between an employee and a counselor remain private.

If an employee is referred to COPE by the employer, the counselor may ask the employee for permission to speak with the supervisor about work-related issues, but the nature of any personal problems will not be discussed without the employee's specific permission.