Do’s and Dont’s of being a Clearhead EAP Provider

1: Annual Confirmation: As a therapist with Clearhead, you are required to provide us through the online provider portal with confirmation and evidence of: 

A)-Professional registration or membership to practice your stated profession, such as Counsellor, Psychotherapist, Psychologist

B)- Indemnity Insurance and Coverage Across Countries

C)- Regular clinical supervision as per your professional body’s guidelines

D)- Current email address and phone number

E)- Cultural Competency across specific countries

2: Ethics and EAPAA Guidelines: Providers must abide by the Code of Ethics relevant to their professional body. We also expect providers to be familiar with the EAP guidelines stipulated by EAPAA, (Employee Assistance Professional Association of Australasia). Clearhead adheres to the EAPAA guidelines and internally audits according to this framework.

3: Contact Details Updated: Clearhead needs to be advised of changes to provider work location/address. Please ensure we have the correct up to date email address and phone number (required) for you. This can be updated in the provider portal. 

4: At Capacity: Please turn on your profile to “NOT ACCEPTING CLIENTS” when you are unavailable to take clients or appointments for an extended period (e.g. at capacity, holiday periods, extended sick leave).

5: Response times: Please meet our response times for appointment requests, and for any cancellation of appointments. Also please note it is your responsibility to ensure clients are aware of their appointments. Please send confirmation of appointments including video call link or address if relevant. If you do not hear back from the client, please try contact them via a different method of contact. If you have not heard from the client after multiple contact attempts please get in touch with us. Please find the link to the FAQ: How long do I have to accept a booking request?

6: Initial Consent Form: Please ensure that you have sent an initial consent form for the client to sign before or at the beginning of a therapy session with you. Please ensure this cover’s a client giving consent for therapy and confidentiality limits in relation to safety. Please find a link to an FAQ of examples of what you can include on your consent form template: What to include on your initial consent form template?

7: Referring clients: Please do not refer clients to other members of your practice or to external colleagues unless they are registered Clearhead providers. If you would like to refer to a provider who is not currently on the Clearhead platform, we are happy to consider registering new providers who meet our clinical and service guidelines. The Clearhead platform is intentionally designed to give clients choice in selecting their provider. When a client is passed on to another practitioner without their involvement, this can unintentionally undermine that choice and the experience the platform is designed to support.

8: Session Notes: In accordance with professional guidelines, Providers are expected to keep client notes of all sessions to ensure that all relevant material discussed and outcomes are documented. These notes must be stored in a locked/secure physical (hardcopy) or passworded digital environment. In certain infrequent cases involving complaints, cases against the employer or other legal matters, Clearhead may request copies of these notes. Clearhead is to be notified of all client requests for notes. Please be aware that Clearhead will collect (from the online platform) demographic data on clients seen for reporting purposes.

9: Two clients: Therapists need to be mindful that they essentially have two clients when working in the EAP area. As well as the client attending sessions, providers need to be mindful of the interests of the client organisation funding the sessions.

10: Contact with Client Organisations: Please do not contact client organisations directly unless strictly authorised by Clearhead, such as in the case of a formal assessment. Information requests or requests for additional sessions are to all go through Clearhead to ensure privacy and consent processes are adhered to.

11: Support Letters: Please do not write support letters for clients that do, or can be perceived to, advocate against the employer, such as opinions that the employee is suffering from workplace stress or that they need special consideration in the workplace. Letters of attendance are generally acceptable, but should be voluntary as the employee should not need to disclose to their employer any information about EAP support they have received. If in doubt about any letter you write, please run it past Clearhead before sending it out.

12: Verbal and Written Feedback to Organisations: There are times when you may receive, through Clearhead, a consented formal manager referral for a client. Outside of these type of EAP sessions, no verbal or written feedback is to be given to organisations (including Managers or HR personnel) regarding clients without prior discussion with the Clinical team at Clearhead. This includes simple confirmation that an appointment was made/attended/not attended. It is important that we ensure any information fed back to the employer complies with privacy requirements. With a consented formal manager referral, no feedback would be approved without a Clearhead Consent to Exchange Information Form signed by the client and employer authorising the nature of the disclosure, coordinated by Clearhead. There are different process and requirements for specialist services: Fitness for Work, Drug and Alcohol, and Other Assessments. 

13: Health and Safety in the Workplace: Outside of how you generally respond to client risk, when you are concerned that an employee is unsafe at work or suffering harm from their job or employer, please discuss it with Clearhead while referring the client to the policies and procedures their organisation has in place regarding health and safety, harassment, injury, discrimination, etc.

14: WorkCover Counselling: For Australian Providers, Clearhead policy stipulates that we do not provide WorkCover counselling or consultations to our client organisations or individual staff members of those organisations.  Therefore, you are requested not to enter into WorkCover arrangements with clients referred by Clearhead.  Given the nature of EAP counselling as a preventative aid in helping to reduce WorkCover claims, taking on individual cases amounts to a conflict of interest with the EAP client organisation.  Further, please note that is not the role of the EAP to suggest or encourage claims against the employer, rather to work through the issues and available options with the client, and refer them back through the appropriate organisational channels such as HR should they wish to explore these further.

15: Converting EAP clients to Self-Funded: By accepting a referral through Clearhead, Providers are agreeing that they will not charge EAP clients any co-payments and that sessions will be entirely without cost to the client unless this is permitted by an insurance programme (e.g. Unimed) or by an employer. Co-payment arrangements must be facilitated by Clearhead only. At the end of funded sessions providers are able to continue to see clients as self-funding private clients through the Clearhead Platform. In doing so they should be clear to the client about the rate for sessions and offer alternative funding options if available. 

16: Number of Counselling Sessions: Please note that EAP is brief therapy with specified session limits. Therefore, Clearhead must be advised of any clients who require more than the allocated number of sessions. If a therapist believes that a client requires more than the limit advised on referral, they should submit the Session Extension Request Form. It is only through this process that we are able to follow the various contractual protocols stipulated by client organisations. We are unable to pay for additional sessions that do not follow this procedure. Please see this FAQ for further information on Session Extensions: Understanding Clearhead’s EAP Session Extension Process.

17: Managing EAP Client Appointments: It is Clearhead policy that no two clients from the same organisation should ever meet at a therapist premises. Therapists are required to manage appointment times to ensure that clients from the same organization do not meet in the waiting room (e.g., have a minimum of thirty minutes between appointments, have them seated in different waiting areas if the need arises, and have appointments run on time to prevent overlap). 

18: International EAP Service Delivery: Clients can access Clearhead worldwide. Therapists who provide services to clients residing in a country different from their own must demonstrate cultural competence relevant to the client’s location and have an understanding of appropriate local services in the country where the client resides. In all cases, providers are required to hold professional indemnity insurance that covers practice in all countries where their clients are located.

19: Clearhead Complaints and Negative Feedback Process: Clearhead will notify you of a complaints or negative feedback investigation if it involves you. In addition, therapists are to advise Clearhead when a Clearhead client makes a complaint directly to them and/or also to the client organisation. Clearhead operates a complaints register and a feedback register where information is recorded in cases that do not lead to complaint investigation. Please find the information on our website regading our Complaints and Feedback Process.

20: Therapy Quality Check Survey: Clearhead has a process for monitoring therapy effectiveness including client rating of therapists after every session. Clients are given the opportunity to provide feedback and scoring regarding their wellbeing after each session. Please contact us on therapist-support@myclearhead.com if you would like further information about this.

21: Clinical Escalation: Matters regarding ethical concerns including safety or risk issues, and quality assurance matters should be directed in the first instance to the Clinical Lead at Clearhead. Operational matters including referral management and invoicing issues should be directed to the Operations Lead. Please email therapist-support@myclearhead.com or call 0800 257 433, Press 3 to contact the Clinical Lead or Operations Lead.

22: Invoicing: Please ensure invoices are submitted as soon as possible after each session is completed. Delayed invoicing may trigger automatic reminder emails and could result in invoicing penalties or non‑payment, particularly if we are unable to invoice the organisation.