Employee Assistance Programs

DHS components provide Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) that offer DHS employees and their eligible family members private consultation with financial advisors and referral services to help them reach their financial goals. Examples include but are not limited to the list below:

• Finding a financial planner
• Savings and investment strategies
• Buying a home
• College budgeting
• Debt consolidation
• Family budgeting
• Deciding whether to buy or lease a car
• Family conflict

Employee Assistance Program (EAP) providers vary by component. Visit the Contact Your EAP section below to find contact information for your component's EAP provider.

NOTE: Consultations are free, confidential, and will not affect your security clearance.

DHS components provide Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) that offer employees and their eligible family members private consultation with legal advisors and referral services to assist with a wide range of legal issues, including but not limited to the issues below:

• Health care power of attorney
• Living wills
• Housing and real estate matters
• Estate planning
• Family law (divorce, custody, etc.)
• Car accidents
• Traffic violations
• Civil and criminal law
• Consumer/contract law
• Personal injury
• Family conflict

Employee Assistance Program (EAP) providers vary by component. Visit the Contact Your EAP section below to find contact information for your component's EAP provider.

NOTE: Consultations are free, confidential, and will not affect your security clearance.

Whether you're caring for a child or an elderly family member, dependent care specialists offered through component-provided Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) can help you efficiently assess your caregiving situation and arrange the appropriate referrals to available support services in your area.

Referrals are available for the following support services:

• Childcare and summer camps
• Education support
• Care options and living arrangements
• Caregiver issues and concerns
• Professional geriatric care management
• Meal delivery and in-home services
• Transportation services
• Hospice services
• Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security
• Respite care
• Funeral planning
• Family conflict

Employee Assistance Program (EAP) providers vary by component. Visit the Contact Your EAP section below to find contact information for your component's EAP provider.

DHS components provide Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) that offer pre-paid, confidential counseling sessions with licensed counselors and referral services to help DHS employees and their immediate family members cope with a variety of life events and challenges, including but not limited to the issues below:

• PTSD
• Job stress or burnout
• Grief or loss
• Alcoholism
• Drug addiction
• Eating disorders
• Workplace conflict
• Family conflict

Employee Assistance Program (EAP) providers vary by component. Visit the Contact Your EAP section below to find contact information for your component's EAP provider.

NOTE: Consultations are free, confidential, and will not affect your security clearance.

If you are facing challenges as a result of your military service and/or recent deployment, your component's Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and other veteran-specific resources can help. Your component's EAP and work-life services can assist with:

• Financial and legal referrals for you and your family, should you face challenges related to deployment or any other life events
• Stress management
• Confidential counseling and referrals for PTSD treatment

Additional resources include:

• Vet Centers (Department of Veterans Affairs)
• PTSD 101 Courses, National Center for PTSD (Department of Veterans Affairs)
• Get Help for PTSD, National Center for PTSD (Department of Veterans Affairs)

NOTE: Veterans who seek counseling strictly related to adjustments from service in a military combat environment do not have to report this counseling for the purposes of security clearances.

Confidential

Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) are confidential. An EAP will not report the details of your sessions to anyone.

NOTE: There are certain restrictions on this confidentiality that an EAP will inform you about at the beginning of your session. For example, if you disclose child or elder abuse, the EAP counselor would be required by law to report that disclosure to state or local authorities.

No Impact on Security Clearance

Going to your component's EAP in and of itself will not affect your security clearance. EAPs provide confidential services and do not report to security. If you are referred for substance abuse treatment and/or mental health counseling, you may be required to self-report. However, the fact that you sought help through an EAP will be considered favorably.

NOTE: The SF-86 form exempts you from having to report any counseling related to strictly marital, family, grief not related to violence by you; or strictly related to adjustments from service in a military combat environment.

Free Services

EAP services are free. Depending on your component, you may receive anywhere from 4 to 6 sessions from your component's EAP. If you are referred out for further services, you can work with your component's EAP to ensure that the referral is to a counselor or facility that accepts your health insurance.

Time Off for Sessions

The DHS Management Directive for Employee Assistance Programs states, “Supervisors may grant a reasonable amount of time during normal working hours to an employee to attend EAP counseling sessions during duty hours. An employee working regular duty hours may have his/her tour of duty modified to accommodate his/her attendance at such sessions. Permission to attend EAP counseling sessions on duty time will include travel to and from such sessions."

Contact your human resources office to find out more about how your component addresses the use of administrative leave for EAP visits. If you are not able to use administrative leave, you can visit your EAP during non-duty hours or you can use sick or annual leave. If you use administrative leave, your manager can request proof that you visited your EAP, but they cannot require you to disclose any information about the substance of the visit.

Family Members

Some EAPs serve family members of employees. Call or email your component's EAP contact (listed in the Contact Your EAP section below) to find out whether your EAP provides this service.

Voluntary

Employee Assistance Programs are always voluntary. Sometimes employees with serious performance issues are referred to their component's EAP by management. Employees in drug-testing positions who test positive are also referred to their EAP. It's still your choice whether or not to visit your EAP; you can use counselors in your community, or you can choose to refuse all assistance. If you choose not to seek help, however, and you are not addressing the issue that led to the referral in the first place, that will have implications for your job.

Consult the list below to find contact information for your component's Employee Assistance Program (EAP).

For more information and answers to questions about DHS Employee Assistance Programs, e-mail worklife@hq.dhs.gov.

Visit the resources listed below for more information on Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) and EAP-related topics.

• U.S. Office of Personnel Management: Employee Assistance Programs
• Federal Employee Assistance Programs: Guiding Principles, Framework, and Definitions
• Alcoholism in the Workplace: A Handbook for Supervisors
• Dealing with Workplace Violence: A Guide for Agency Planners
• Handling Traumatic Events: A Manager's Handbook

Additional information may be available on your component's intranet.