Professional Coaches and Employee Assistance Practitioners

Abstract

For years, employee assistance programs (EAPs) have been contributing to the productivity and well-being of organizations and their employees. By identifying and screening well-qualified resources for assistance, EAPs have effectively addressed a variety of employee needs in a confidential manner. Now, as a result of the growing phenomenon of employee coaching, EAPs have additional resources to draw upon for appropriate referrals. For the purpose of this article, employee or executive coaching refers to the collaborative process that helps people attain their workplace objectives. This article addresses a number of questions that will enable employee assistance (EA) counselors to increase their understanding of how coaches complement other professional expertise to deliver targeted assistance to EAP clients.

Key Words:

• Employee assistance program
• employee coaching
• leadership coaching
• executive coaching
• psychotherapy
• corporate coach
• coach selection
• contracting with coaches
• feedback
• development