Towergate research reveals counselling benefits for employees’ mental health

Counselling through employee assistance programmes (EAP) has been found to help staff improve their mental health, according to research by Towergate Health & Protection.

Data collected by a leading employee assistance programme measured the progress of patients at the start of structured counselling and at the end.

Generalised anxiety disorder questionnaires revealed that anxiety levels registered an average improvement of 61% after counselling, with symptoms of anxiety moving from moderate and severe to mild.

Questionnaires measuring levels of depression recorded an average 60% improvement in symptoms after structured therapy, which uses solution-focused counselling to help employees work through mental health issues.

Employees were also asked to score feelings of presenteeism and workplace distress. Presenteeism scores lowered by an average of 25.8% after therapy and workplace distress scores were down an average of 21.3%.

David Williams, head of group risk at Towergate Health and Protection, said: “These figures are hugely encouraging and prove that counselling via EAPs works. They also show that benefits can be seen by the employer too, which makes providing such support a win-win situation.”

Towergate said employee assistance programmes are common in the workplace and its research should encourage employers to invest in the service.

Williams added: “With proof that counselling via EAPs works, and the obvious benefits for employees and the business alike, we would encourage every employer to consider providing access to this kind of wellbeing support, particularly as they’re such good value too – either when offered standalone or incorporated within other benefits, such as group risk.”