Spectrum.Life

•  This service is available to contact 24/7, 365 days a year, via Freephone (or international call number) – WhatsApp – Text – Live Chat – Online Portal (contact details available behind SSO)
• UserWay Accessibility Widget, video subtitles and audio descriptions, keyboard navigation and alternative formats are available for all online resources
• Spectrum.Life can provide British Sign Language counselling, video calls, live text chat and SMS/WhatsApp support
• Counselling can be provided in 35+ languages (without interpretation) and by counsellors from varied backgrounds

If you have any other accessibility requirements you would like to see included, please contact the wellbeing team at wellbeing@admin.ox.ac.uk.

The EAP provide consultation on a wide range of financial issues including:

• Household budgeting and personal spending
• Borrowing and debt management
• Saving, investing and the possible risks
• Life assurance, income replacement and protecting loved ones
• Retirement planning

The team can also ensure you have the relevant information to help with a variety of consumer issues such as:

• Food and food safety
• Product performance
• Guarantees/warranties and deposits
• Finance and financial products
• Environment and health issues
• Consumer rights and how to safeguard these rights

To access this support, contact the service via the usual channels and a Spectrum counsellor will engage with you to determine your issue and refer you onto specialists (i.e. lawyers, Independent Financial Advisors etc.) for a complimentary 30-minute consultation per issue per year.

Please note: Professional services are available between 9am–5pm. However, a callback option is available 24/7.

Line managers face unique stressors when looking after their team members, such as handling changes, conflict management, dealing with difficult employees, or stressful workloads. 

The EAP can provide guidance on the following (this list is not exhaustive):

• Advice around discipline and grievance issues or employee performance issues​
• Helping employees with issues at home    ​
• Emotional interviews with team members     ​
• Managing change within the team​
• Breaking bad news to employees​
• Advice on your own emotional wellbeing​
• Referring employees to the EAP

To access this support, line managers can contact the EAP via the contact details linked to above.

Critical incident stress management (CISM) is a type of crisis intervention designed to provide support for those who have experienced traumatic events. CISM is comprised of multiple crisis response components that attempt address each phase of a crisis situation. 

Spectrum.Life can offer specific additional support to teams and departments at the department's own cost. For further information click here. 

Staff members are encouraged to use the EAP service as usual via the helpline or online platform should they encounter a distressing situation whether at work or elsewhere.
 

On first contact, the Customer Care Counsellor will explain what the service can provide and its 100% confidential nature. The only information that must be given is the name of the company to initially access the service.

If follow up referral is necessary, in order to set up an employee’s case file, the Customer Care Counsellor will gather some additional information from the employee such as name, date of birth and contact details. This information is stored securely and is never shared with an employer or colleagues. It is only ever shared when absolutely necessary with qualified and accredited professionals and the employee will always be made aware of this beforehand.

Exceptions can occur only if there is serious risk of harm to the caller or others. In such circumstances, the counsellor will always seek guidance before breaching confidentiality. 

The information is gathered for a couple of reasons such as:
–To check employee’s eligibility for the service.
–So that the team will be able to find and access the contact details and can get in touch with the employee if needs be.
–To enable the Customer Care Counsellor to create and keep a full record of all of an employee’s contact with the service to keep track of their case, referral etc. and ensure they are receiving all of the care they need as promptly and efficiently as possible.
–So that in the event of the Customer Care Counsellor being unavailable when the employee is looking for help, the other members of the team will have the details of the case at hand and will be able to provide the employee with the most up to date and accurate guidance.
–So that wherever appropriate, the Customer Care Counsellor will be able to share the necessary details with the relevant professional the employee is being referred to e.g. counsellor, legal expert etc.

Spectrum.Life follow strict governance guidelines. Any information kept on file is purely for the purpose of providing you with the appropriate support and is only accessed by the Case Management team at Spectrum.Life.

Analytical usage data may be shared with the employer (excluding identifying factors).