Workplace Pathway | Workplace and EAP Triage and Assessment Policy.

Policy and Key Information

1. Introduction

This paper sets out the principles and role of assessment and triage services in the Atrium Workplace Pathway.

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Triage refers to the allocation of urgency, and suggested pathway for support following on from an initial assessment of need by a trained pathway coordinator working to a specific reception assessment framework.

Atrium is a primary care level provider of psychological and therapy interventions alongside early or complimentary interventions of bitesize training in wellbeing conditions and self- directed learning from our clinically generated resources. Our pathway coordinator also assigns and coordinates help from our legal and affiliate financial services depending on the need of the employee.

2. The Introductory Reception Screen/Assessment

Assessment should always be for a purpose. It is neither efficient nor fair to the person assessed to ask questions and obtain information for no good reason. A good assessment just collects information relevant for the purpose or purposes of that assessment and should not ask questions beyond those needed to fulfil that purpose. As such our workplace services coordinator will ask you questions about the client’s needs, clarify risk if appropriate and share a plan of action with you as a result of your assessment session.

Atrium initially screens for the following reasons:

• A brief assessment to determine whether a person is eligible for the service and/or to determine means of practitioner allocation (for wellbeing and counselling services.) The outcome of this assessment is usually a yes/no decision as to whether the employee is eligible for the service in terms of our EAP contract and/or decision about appropriateness of service through Atrium. This light-touch screening typically requires responding to some wellbeing psychometric and biographical questions. For non-therapy assessments, the assessment stage can be merely a signposting service to our advice practitioner, affiliate financial or legal providers and coordination of next steps.
• If further assessment or further risk assessment is considered as appropriate to meet the employee’s needs, a clinician appointment is made to call the client back usually within 1 hour to evaluate potential risk of an employee to self or others. The outcome of this assessment is a referral to further help, advice, or an indication of continuity to an Atrium service and next steps.
• Additional or bespoke assessments. The outcome is a provisional consultation with senior clinician in preparation for assessment when the objectives are clear and if they fit with our service offer.

3. Ongoing Assessment in Coaching and Counselling Sessions with a Clinician

• Problem formulation intake assessment session to come to an initial shared understanding of the employee’s problems, where the client feels they have communicated their problems and been understood.
  The practitioner will invite the client to share their history and presenting main concerns. The outcome is a shared understanding of the problem, protective factors and strengths in the client’s life and an outline plan for the work together. The practitioner will explain the risk assessment framework running through the Atrium counselling process (CORE GP/10) to ensure that employee’s needs are being met and to review the wellbeing of the employee. The session may get as far as the agreeing of specific goals for the work.
• Further sessions, therapy work planning and continued assessment in more detail: to come to a shared decision as to the goals and type of work together (types of help to run alongside therapy such as self-directed resource use, learning and participation style preferred, access to the Atrium psychometric self-monitoring tools) that would be appropriate for the employee. The outcome of this assessment as an integral part of these early sessions is a refined plan for working well together.
• Assessments are updated and re-formulate alongside risk assessment at the beginning of sessions and in notes.

4. Recording of Assessments and Notes

• As soon as the client contacts us, the pathway coordinator creates an account for the client, taking details such as address and GP details as well as including the initial screening results for wellbeing.
• Before the client accesses a psychological service, they complete a consent form to receive our services and agree to this data collection within our GDPR protocol.
• Client assessments and ongoing session notes are reviewed by our quality pathway administrator to ensure record keeping compliance and manage risk as part of the Atrium case management protocol.
• Therapy assessment notes are updated as part of our confidential clinical note protocol by the practitioner.
• Practitioners access clinical supervision and formulation assessments, and further assessments are considered as part of that case management overview.
• Ensure that a closure form is completed in our electronic record system.