CARE Services for Faculty and Staff

CARE Services is the employee assistance program. CARE offers a wide range of services to faculty, staff, and their family members.

Counseling: CARE offers free, confidential counseling on a variety of issues, including work and personal stress, emotional issues, family and relationship difficulties, elder care concerns, substance abuse problems, and pressures resulting from financial and legal matters.

CARE counselors are a diverse group of licensed professionals, and they include an experienced Elder Care specialist and a Spanish-speaking counselor. All counseling services are strictly confidential and absolutely voluntary.

Consultation: CARE assists managers, supervisors, Deans, Directors, and other campus representatives who are concerned about someone at work. The concern may be related to job performance, working relationships, personal problems, or traumatic events.

Education and Training: CARE offers workshops on numerous topics, including those scheduled each semester (open to all faculty and staff) and those conducted in response to specific requests from departments. CARE also sponsors brown bag lunch programs and speaker series on personal, work-related, and family issues.

Groups: CARE can facilitate educational groups to assist individuals and work groups to understand and cope with reorganization, illness, death, or other significant events. CARE also offers support groups to provide peer support to participants with shared concerns.

CARE Services is located in the Tang Center, University Health Services, 2222 Bancroft Way, Room 3100. For more information, contact CARE Services at 643-7754 or visit the CARE website.

Your Role

Because CARE counseling services are strictly voluntary, it is important to educate your staff about CARE’s free, confidential counseling program. Display publicity materials about CARE Services and keep a supply of CARE Services’ brochures available. Encourage staff to seek help for personal and interpersonal problems as you would any other problem or concern.

Consult with CARE Services’ staff when you have concerns about an employee. Your role is to help support employees with personal problems, but don’t confuse this with personal counseling. Supervisors can undermine their effectiveness by diagnosing or counseling an employee or by lowering standards or expectations to address performance concerns by. CARE Service’s licensed counselors can help you to effectively support and manage employees facing personal or work-related problems.

Consider the needs of other employees affected by a co-worker in need of assistance, or affected by a significant event. Consult a CARE counselor about what services can be provided. For example, CARE can provide grief counseling to co-workers following a medical diagnosis or death of an employee, or workshops on change and transition following major unit reorganizations.

How the Service Works

Counseling Services: Any UCB faculty member, staff person, or their family members may call CARE Services for an appointment. Meeting times are typically available the same day or within three working days, and urgent/emergency situations are responded to immediately. Appointments are available during normal business hours, during lunch hours, and immediately before and after work. There is no charge for meeting with a CARE counselor.

All counseling services are strictly confidential according to the law. CARE offers one to three sessions to clarify and assess problems; resolve problems through short-term counseling as indicated; and refer individuals to community and health plan resources if specialized or longer-term help is needed.

Assessment: CARE counselors assist in clarifying issues, prioritizing immediate concerns, and developing an approach to resolving the problem(s).

Short-Term Counseling: CARE provides short-term problem-solving services when it appears that the concern(s) can be alleviated or resolved within 3 sessions. These sessions are free of charge.

Referral: If the problem(s) require longer-term or more specialized attention, or if an individual simply wants information about community and health plan resources, CARE provides information on various agencies, programs, practitioners, and other resources. Fees for these other resources vary, and in some instances are covered under health plan provisions.

Consultation Services: Any UCB manager, supervisor, Dean, Director, or other campus representative may call CARE Services for consultation regarding concerns about someone at work. The CARE counselor will help the caller with information, referrals, and/or guidance to help support and assist the person with whom the caller is concerned, and to address the needs of other coworkers as indicated.

Consultation is also available when there are concerns about an entire work group, such as in the aftermath of the death of an employee or major department reorganization.

Education and Training: Education, training and support groups are offered on a variety of issues, by open enrollment in CARE programs offered to all faculty and staff, and by request from managers and supervisors for specific departments.

Lending Library: CARE has a small library of books, videotapes, audiotapes and hand-outs on the full range of personal issues that can affect faculty and staff.

For more information, call CARE Services at 643-7754.