St Edward’s School: EAP is an assurance that’s second to none

Denise Edwards is HR Administration Manager at St Edwards School - a co-educational secondary school and sixth form located in Poole, Dorset.

As a school, we have a focus on the wellbeing of our staff. We have a mindfulness programme for staff and an assistant head who’s responsible for wellbeing.

For a number of years, we also had a local authority counselling service. When that stopped being provided and we were no longer able to refer members of staff when they needed help, I looked around online for another service.

What attracted me to the Education Support service was that it’s not just counselling. Often people are looking for financial advice and other types of advice. When people are having a hard time, I can just give them the card and direct them to the service. Also, it’s completely confidential.

It’s hard to pinpoint the benefits of the service so far, because it is anonymous and confidential. However, we’ve noticed that throughout the year, take-up has increased each term. A few people have said that it’s been really helpful talking to somebody quickly.

There are lots of benefits of having a service for staff in place, where they can have a conversation with somebody 24/7. You can say to them ‘here you go, we provide this anonymously, and you can discuss anything you want to discuss.’

For staff, to talk anonymously to someone who they don’t know can be just what they need. You can phone anyone about anything, you don’t have to pay for it, and it’s not going to get back to anybody.

That assurance is second to none, really.

Denise Edwards is HR Administration Manager at St Edwards School, a joint Roman Catholic and Church of England Voluntary Aided co-educational secondary school and sixth form located in Poole, Dorset.