When Latisha Lister-Burgess first started as a counsellor at the Employee Assistance Programme, she found that the organisation — designed to help employees — was often used as a threat.

“For a long time, people have talked about EAP like it was the emotional principal’s office,” said Ms Lister-Burgess, EAP executive director. “I would hear people say: ‘my boss said if I don’t come, I’m going to lose my job,’ or ‘my girlfriend said if I don’t come, she is going to break up with me.’”

Fourteen years later, much has changed. For a start, mental health treatment is no longer seen as a last-resort option.

“We are seeing more people coming in and saying they want to work on their emotional health or they want to prevent burnout at work,” Ms Lister-Burgess said. “In their relationships they may be arguing more and need to communicate, in a better way.”

She would love to see people using EAP as an emotional checkup service before hitting crisis point.

The organisation recently hit a pivotal milestone when they appointed their first counselling team leader, Julita Peniston.

“She started last year in February,” Ms Lister-Burgess said. “It was a very big change for EAP. We have never had a level of middle management.”

The team wanted to strengthen the work they were doing, but the only way to do that was to strengthen capacity. That allowed for more staff and someone dedicated to building what was missing in the organisation.

One of Dr Peniston’s first mandates was to ensure that all clinical staff, including interns, full‑time, part‑time employees had ongoing, structured supervision.

Weekly group supervision still happens, but every clinician also has individual peer‑based supervision with Dr Peniston, to talk through personal reactions and case direction.

The pandemic in 2020 was a turning point for EAP. Before the global health crisis they were doing what Ms Lister-Burgess described as a “reasonable amount of training”.

They launched their Wednesday webinar series during lockdown.

“That brought more attention to us,” Ms Lister-Burgess said. “Many people started joining our training. Out of that came real feedback from the business community.”

Based on community input, EAP started offering workshops on workplace bullying and sexual harassment. They also did team building and psychological safety.

“There was a shift,” she said. “All of a sudden people were recognising that mental health was just part of the business conversation. I watched people say, if that is true, what are we actually supposed to be doing about this?”

In EAP’s next workshop, the Human Rights Commission will lead From awareness to action — becoming a disability-inclusive workplace on July 16 from 10am to 11am. This free, Zoom-style session is designed for managers, supervisors, employers or anyone interested in disability inclusion.

There will also be a virtual, supervisor orientation to EAP on August 27 from 10am to 11am. It looks at how to use EAP services as early intervention instead of as a last resort and also how to make formal and compassionate referrals.

EAP is also offering a free, virtual employee orientation to EAP on August 27 from 9am to 9.30am. It acts as an introduction to EAP, how it works and what they can help with.

• To sign up, call 292‑9000 or e-mail info@eap.bm