Employee Assistance Program
At some point or another, we all experience personal challenges either on the job or at home.
Hampshire College believes it is important for us to be able to talk to someone with professional knowledge and training who can help us identify and resolve our problems. For this reason, Hampshire provides free access to an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) through New Directions.
The EAP offers free confidential assessment and referral services, and short-term counseling to help you and anyone living in your household work through life's challenges. Employees and their household members are each eligible for three voluntary referral counseling sessions, per issue, per calendar year. The EAP has helped people effectively deal with a variety of issues including: anger, anxiety, grief, communication problems, drinking or drug use, domestic violence, eating disorders, marital/relationship/family concerns, mood swings, depression, parenting, stress (at work, home, or financial), suicidal thoughts, work issues, or performance problems, etc.
To make use of this benefit, call New Directions using their toll free phone number (800.624.5544), identify yourself as a Hampshire College employee or household member, and the staff will work with you to schedule an appointment with one of their counselors or a licensed counselor near your home or workplace.
To schedule an appointment, call during regular business hours Monday through Thursday 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; if the matter is urgent, you can call anytime. A professional counselor is available to speak with you twenty-four hours a day, including weekends and holidays.
When you call, the staff will help you set up an appointment with one of the EAP counselors, all of whom are master's and doctoral level, licensed, or certified professionals with many years of clinical experience. Many problems can be resolved through short-term counseling, but if you and the EAP counselor decide that other kinds of expertise would be helpful, the EAP counselor can make recommendations, and help refer you to the most appropriate resources.
You may be responsible for any costs outside the EAP sessions, such as for services by referred providers. Your EAP counselor will talk about these costs with you before outside services are used. Your health insurance plan may cover some or all of these expenses.
Other EAP services that are available to you include but not limited to: financial services, legal services, and work/life services.
New Directions also has a comprehensive website with over 5,000 articles covering topics such as college planning, legal matters, child and elder care, stress, and much more. In addition, there are 750 videos, financial calculators, health and wellness assessments, and interactive training courses. Visit eap.ndbh.com (Username: Hampshire College, Password: guest), or call 800.624.5544.
This website is intended as a general overview of Hampshire College benefits plans only. Every effort has been made to summarize these programs accurately. In all cases, the actual provisions of each benefit plan will govern if there is any inconsistency between this site and Hampshire's formal plans or contracts.