Achieve and maintain wellbeing with our free Employee Assistance Program for you and your family.

The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is a confidential counselling, coaching and wellbeing service free for all for UNSW leaders, staff and their immediate family members. The service can help you manage work and life experiences, issues or concerns that arise from time to time.

At UNSW, the Employee Assistance Program services are provided by Benestar.

You can access Benestar services via face-to-face, video or telephone counselling, Live Chat and SMS support. There is also a vast library of online health and wellbeing resources.

For managers, if you need to call Benestar out to campus to support your team, there will be an additional charge to your work unit. Please speak to your HR Business Partnering Team if you'd like to know more.

Confidential face-to-face, telephone or live chat counselling, coaching and support - "My Coach"

MyCoach offers professional, confidential counselling, coaching and support. It can be accessed via face-to-face appointments, over the phone, or as a web chat through the BeneHub site. 

Remember, to have the best "My Coach" experience there are two key tips:

  1. Provide the booking staff with a high level description of what you want help with (eg. financial advice, anxiety, assisting a troubled employee, team conflict etc.) so they can match you with the most suitable counsellor.
  2. Rapport with your counsellor is at the heart of a successful experience, so if you don't feel you initially get the right counsellor for you, you are strongly encouraged to request a different person for your next booking.
For individuals

The MyCoach program provides coaching and support to help you manage challenging issues and enhance your wellbeing both in the workplace and in your personal life. This could include:

  • suggestions on how to improve your work relationships or help defining some strategies to create a better work-life balance
  • support in managing mental health issues for you or your family or guidance related to parenting or family issues
  • support from a financial counsellor to help you get on top of your finances
For Leaders

MyCoach also provides a service to help leaders effectively look after themselves and support their teams through workplace issues and challenges such as: 

  • an employee with problems impacting on work performance or behaviour or interpersonal conflicts or difficulties with team functioning
  • a distressed or troubled employee or assisting an employee to cope with change
  • MyCoach can also provide advice on how to refer your staff to Benestar.

A total of six free sessions are available per issue per person/family at no cost. After your sixth session, your Benestar contact may refer you to another service provider for additional sessions or support at your own cost.

Benestar services continue to be available to UNSW staff members for three months after they leave UNSW employment.

How do I access EAP?

1. Phone for an appointment

Call Benestar on 1300 360 364.

This is the fastest way to access support and it is always best to phone if your matter is urgent. When you phone 1300 360 364 you will be able to make a face-to-face or phone or video call appointment. If your matter is urgent and you need to speak to someone straight away, you will be able to do so.

The phone is answered 24/7.

2. SMS

You can access support 'in the moment' for a specific issue by texting 0480 032 310 to initiate an SMS chat. Clinicians are based in Australia and will respond to your messages Monday to Friday between 7:30am-7:30pm. If you message outside of these hours you will receive a reply the next working day.

3. Live Chat

You can access the Live chat feature in the BeneHub online portal. Once in the BeneHub, click the green 'Live chat' button and go straight through to a clinician from the digital clinical team.

Live chat is available from 7:30am-7:30pm Monday to Friday.

To access the BeneHub, first you will need to create a BeneHub account. 

To create a BeneHub account, visit www.benestar.com and click on 'BeneHub Login' at the top of the screen. You will need these details:

ID: UNSW
Token: UNSW01

Then provide a few details and choose your own password. Every time you visit BeneHub after you register you can login directly with the details you chose. There is also a free app for iOS and Android.

For more information and help logging in see the Benestar UserGuide.

4. Appointment Request Form

You can use this booking form to request an appointment. It takes longer to access help this way (as there will be some conversation back and forth with you via email) and this is recommended only for non-urgent matters. 

The EAP service is available to all staff at UNSW, including staff from UNSW Canberra, UNSW Global, CCIA, the Black Dog Institute, Unisearch and Arc@UNSW. Casual staff are included.

Onsite Services

Benestar counselling sessions are available onsite at the Kensington campus between 9am - 2pm every second Wednesday. These sessions are held in Room G033 in the Quadrangle Building.

You can book an appointment with the virtual onsite counsellor in advance by calling 1300 360 364. 

 

Online resource library

The BeneHub online resource library allows you access to a vast library of health and wellbeing resources. This includes a variety of content such as learning modules, videos, articles, podcasts, activities and resource toolkits.

Confidentiality

All consultations are strictly confidential. Benestar will not share information about you with UNSW unless you authorise for them to do so.

When making appointments, you may be asked for information on your organisation and faculty or office and some demographic questions. This information may be used towards high level reporting on trends and utilisation rates

Need more help?

Contact your Wellbeing Champion or HR Representative.