Spectrum.Life provides services internationally to over 7.5m insurance members, 3,000 corporate clients, over 60 esteemed third-level institutions and 650,000 university students. Spectrum.Life currently employs over 300 people, including over 160 clinicians.
Within our mental health services, one of the services we provide is an Employee Assistance Programme or EAP. EAP is just one of the mental health services we operate such as Total Mental Health, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and Adult Psychology Services.
We provide similar type services to our EAP to the Education Sector – Student Assistance Programme (SAP), and Insurance Sector – Member Assistance Programme (MAP). Services like EAP, SAP and MAP make up about 30% of our business and forecast over 150,000 service users in 2024 for these services.
Based on the allegations in circulation about a well-known provider, we’ve compiled responses to questions our customers have been asking us.
Service Quality.
Within the EAP Service, who answers mental health calls?
Mental health calls are answered in our service by qualified, accredited, or registered counsellors with a minimum of 100 accrued counselling hours.
Does Spectrum.Life use a third-party answering service or are calls ever answered by a department or team outside of the Mental Health or Clinical Department?
No, Spectrum.Life does not use a third-party answering service, nor are calls ever answered by a team or department outside of the Mental Health or Clinical Department.
Who do your front-line clinical teams report to?
Front-line clinical colleagues, such as counsellors, always immediately report to a clinician, and in the case of counsellors, this is a Senior Team member, who is also a qualified, accredited, or registered counsellor with a minimum of 100 accrued counselling hours.
How do you manage the Clinical Governance of your EAP Service?
Our service is led by our Chief Clinical Officer, Dr Emelina Ellis, who herself holds a doctorate in counselling psychology. Furthermore, our services are overseen by our Clinical Advisory Board, which is Chaired by Dr Paula Franklin. Spectrum.Life is a CQC accredited organisation and has ISO-9001 Quality accreditation, which involves regular audits of our quality and risk management.
Can you give us any stats on the quality metrics of your EAP Service?
Over the last quarter, the following metrics were observed in our service:
– Member Net Promoter Score of the service averaged at 84.
– Calls are answered by qualified, registered/accredited counsellors and psychotherapists in an average of 29 seconds.
– 100% of callbacks are done within 24 hours by a qualified counsellor and psychotherapist.
– 92% of clients experienced a reduction from moderate to low distress following our interventions.
– Received less than 0.015% escalations/complaints last quarter.
All were investigated with respect, confidentiality, and care, with the member’s consent. No information is ever shared with third parties.
Confidentiality.
Is Spectrum.Life’s EAP service confidential?
Yes, all interactions with our service are confidential between us and the member. We communicate transparently how we handle client information and ensure that service members are fully informed about their rights and our confidentiality practices when they use the EAP service.
Are there any exceptions to that confidentiality?
In cases where service users present themselves to us at risk to themselves or others, we have a legal obligation to inform emergency services, their GP and/or their next of kin. Members are given informed consent when accessing the service regarding this exception.
Do you record calls to the EAP Service?
Yes, however, the service user can choose to opt out of call recording. All call recordings are confidential and are only available to other Spectrum.Life clinicians for purposes of quality, training, auditing and responding to risk.
Do you share those call recordings with service users?
Rarely, and only following a subject access request (SAR) from the service user. We may share that call recording, if available, with that consenting service user. The service user has a right to request the recording, if available, under GDPR legislation.
Do you share the call recordings with employers or other third parties without the specific consent of the service user?
No, never. Consent by the service user is always required for us to share the call recording.
Can calls be listened to live or in real-time?
In rare circumstances when a service user is at risk to themselves or others, Senior Clinicians may join the call in order to assist our counsellor colleague in coordinating emergency services or other supports for the member.
Have Spectrum.Life ever allowed a client, employer, partner etc. to listen to a live call?
Never. Any such action would completely undermine the confidential nature of the call, and confidentiality is a fundamental basis for our relationship with our service users.
Have Spectrum.Life ever allowed prospective colleagues to listen to a live call at a ‘recruitment day’ or any similar event or setting?
Never. Any such action would completely undermine the confidential nature of the call, and confidentiality is a fundamental basis for our relationship with our service users.
People and Culture.
More details of Spectrum.Life as an employer:
Spectrum.Life has over 280 employees, with nearly 50% of them being clinicians. Our current employee net promoter score (eNPS) is 64, which means 82% of current colleagues would recommend working with Spectrum.Life to family or friends. When looking at just clinicians, our eNPS is 72, meaning 86% of current colleagues would recommend working for Spectrum.Life to family or friends. This survey was taken on week commencing July 1, 2024 and had 75% participation.
Do Spectrum.Life require colleagues to sign documents to prevent former employees from speaking out about unfair treatment or discrimination?
No. When colleagues join Spectrum.Life, they sign two relevant documents – a Non-Disclosure Agreement and a Confidentiality Agreement. In the case of the Confidentiality Agreement, this exclusively relates to Unauthorised Access to Service User Information and intends only to protect our service user’s confidential information from unauthorised access. The Non-Disclosure Agreement relates to protecting Spectrum.Life Intellectual Property. Neither document relates to former colleagues speaking out in any way against the company.
Do you restrict clinicians from making a livelihood by applying restrictive covenants for them working for a competitor after working for Spectrum.Life?
No, we do not, and we find it highly inappropriate.
Have Spectrum.Life ever contacted a current or former employee directly over a Glassdoor or other review?
No, never.