Employee Assistance Services: Employee Assistance Program

Did you know? Health Canada offers an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to employees and family members in over 90 federal organizations. If you are not sure who your support provider is, please access Find your organization’s Employee Assistance Program provider.

On this page:

About the EAP

The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provided by Health Canada is available to you and your immediate family members 24 hours a day, 7 days a week if you are in distress or need some mental health support. Not sure which number to call? Look up your organizational EAP provider.

The EAP Crisis and Referral Center receives a high number of calls. Please stay on the line or leave a message to maintain call priority. We are here to help and support you. We will not tolerate violent, threatening, discriminatory or abusive language or behavior, and may end the call or chat session if you disregard this notice. Thank you for treating our staff with respect.

If you are concerned about immediate harm to yourself or others please call 9-1-1.

EAP Chat Service

You and your immediate family members can also contact the EAP Crisis and Referral Center using our live Chat service. This service is available Monday to Friday, from 8 am to 7:30 pm Eastern time, except statutory holidays. Outside of these hours, please contact us by phone.

Note:

Make sure to contact EAP using either Chat or telephone, not both at the same time. If you cannot access the Chat from your workplace or while connected to VPN, try using a personal device. Connection to Chat from your workplace may be blocked due to departmental firewalls.

Access Chat (For Government of Canada employees, current and former RCMP/CAF members and immediate family members)

Check to see if your organization is eligible:
  • Accessibility Standards Canada
  • Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada
  • Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
  • Canada Council for the Arts
  • Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation
  • Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions
  • Canada Energy Regulator
  • Canada Foundation for Innovation
  • Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
  • Canada School of Public Service
  • Canadian Armed Forces
  • Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety
  • Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment
  • Canadian Heritage
  • Canadian Human Rights Commission
  • Canadian Institutes of Health Research
  • Canadian Intergovernmental Conference Secretariat
  • Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency
  • Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission
  • Canadian Space Agency
  • Canadian Transportation Agency
  • Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP
  • Copyright Board of Canada
  • Courts Administration Service
  • Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada
  • Employment and Social Development Canada
  • Environment and Climate Change Canada
  • Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario
  • Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario
  • Finance Canada
  • Financial Consumer Agency of Canada
  • Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada
  • Fisheries and Oceans Canada
  • Global Affairs Canada
  • Health Canada
  • Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
  • Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
  • Impact Assessment Agency of Canada
  • Indian Oil and Gas Canada
  • Indigenous Services Canada (ISC)
  • Infrastructure Canada
  • Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
  • International Joint Commission
    • Great Lakes Region
    • National Capital Region
  • Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridges Inc.
  • Justice Canada
  • Law Commission of Canada
  • Library and Archives Canada
  • Military Family Resource Centre
  • Military Grievances External Review Committee
  • Military Police Complaints Commission of Canada
  • National Arts Centre
  • National Battlefields Commission
  • National Film Board of Canada
  • National Research Council Canada
  • National Security and Intelligence Review Agency
  • Natural Resources Canada
  • Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
  • Office of the Auditor General of Canada
  • Office of the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada
  • Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs Canada
  • Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada
  • Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
  • Office of the Correctional Investigator
  • Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
  • Office of the Intelligence Commissioner
  • Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
  • Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner of Canada
  • Office of the Secretary to the Governor General
  • Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions
  • Pacific Economic Development Canada
  • Parks Canada
  • Parole Board of Canada
  • Patented Medicine Prices Review Board
  • Polar Knowledge Canada
  • Prairies Economic Development Canada
  • Privy Council Office
  • Public Health Agency of Canada
  • Public Prosecution Service of Canada
  • Public Safety Canada
  • Public Service Commission
  • Public Services and Procurement Canada
    • Atlantic Region
    • Employee and Organization Assistance Program Relay Services
    • NCR - Workplace Services and Outside Canada groups
    • Departmental Oversight Branch
    • QuĂ©bec Region
    • Pacific Region
  • RCMP External Review Committee
  • Royal Canadian Mounted Police - regular members, civilian members, public service employees
  • Shared Services Canada
  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
  • St. John's Port Authority
  • Statistics Canada
  • Supreme Court of Canada
  • Telefilm Canada
  • Transport Canada
  • Transportation Safety Board of Canada
  • Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
  • Veterans Affairs Canada - Employees
  • Veterans Affairs Canada - Former RCMP and CAF members
  • Veterans Review and Appeal Board
  • Women and Gender Equality Canada

EAP client survey

We've created an electronic version of the Health Canada EAP survey. If you've recently completed counselling with our program and have a few minutes to spare, we'd like your feedback. Your answers will help us improve our services.

Take the survey

Crisis and referral center available 24 hours

  • confidential
  • bilingual service (French and English)
  • telephone service for individuals with a hearing impairment
  • available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year
  • crisis counselling available (crisis and suicide intervention)
  • calls answered by mental health professionals who have, at a minimum, a Master's degree in counselling, social work or psychology
  • can assist with many concerns, like:
    • couple and family relationships
    • work life balance
    • psychological health (stress management, anxiety, burn-out)
    • work difficulties (conflict, dealing with change)

Network of professionals that represents a diverse public service

Employee Assistance Services hires mental health professionals that represent the diversity of the federal public service. Our goal is to make sure we have professionals with diverse backgrounds so that we can connect clients, on request, with the right counsellor based on experience. This can include experience supporting a specific community or equity-deserving group.

Counselling services

  • network of over 900 mental health professionals providing face-to-face counselling
    • minimum of a Master's degree in counselling, social work or psychology and at least 5 years experience
  • e-counselling, video-counselling and telephone counselling
  • short-term professional counselling, including follow-ups as needed
  • ability to ask for a different mental health professional if the referral is not a good fit
  • referrals to an appropriate external community resource if the issue is not short-term, or if specialized treatment is required

Quality assurance

EAS' Quality Assurance Team ensures quality standards by:

  • offering services at no cost to the individual seeking assistance
  • surveying clients once services are complete (95% of respondents indicated that they were "totally" or "very satisfied" with the assistance services received)
  • ensuring compliance with various laws and government policies like:
    • Official Languages Act
    • Treasury Board Directive on the Employee Assistance Program
    • Canadian Human Rights Act
    • Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act
  • a complaints management process to address service-related issues
  • in-depth selection process for contracted mental health professionals
  • case management oversight ensuring that intervention plans respect EAS' mandate and are best suited to meet client needs
  • training and guidance for contracted mental health professionals, including online orientation

Dedicated management team

  • bilingual reports
  • evaluation of all services provided
  • personalization to clients across Canada and abroad
  • information sessions to employees and managers to promote the use of services
  • customer relations team available to answer questions, review data, and work with clients to address concerns and improve service delivery
  • advice to management on dealing with difficult situations like suicide and workplace crisis

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