Confidential Counselling Service: A New Breed of EAP?

Counselling at work services are developing all the time. Traditionally they fall into two groups: in‐house and contracted out services. Confidential Counselling Services (CCS) provides an alternative: a dedicated out‐of‐house service delivered via a known counsellor(s). Provides a descriptive outline of CCS. The second part considers whether CCS is an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP). Presents a historical overview of their development, leading to a four‐stage model of EAPs. From this suggests a typology of EAPs:disease; client centred; employee‐work interface; and, the company as client. Research is needed to demonstrate the existence of this typology. In terms of the above, and its core functions, CCS bears some of the hallmarks of an EAP.