During the 1996 Cornell United Way Campaign, the Chronicle will highlight various area agencies and programs that receive United Way support.
Offering faculty and staff members relief from the stressful demands of work and home life, Cornell provides its employees and their families with mental health care services through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP), a service run by the not-for-profit organization, Family and Children's Service of Ithaca.
"The EAP is a terrific marriage between what Cornell needs and the strengths of Family and Children's Service," said Albert Brault, Cornell employee and president of Family and Children's Service's volunteer board of directors.
Housed both on campus, in Day Hall, and off campus in the downtown offices of Family and Children's Service, the Cornell Employee Assistance Program is a 14-year-old counseling and crisis intervention resource specifically geared toward Cornell employees, retirees and their families. The program provides two basic services: consultation to department supervisors for personnel-related issues, and counseling to employees for problems affecting their mental and emotional well-being.
The EAP's counseling services, in particular, address a broad range of employee needs, including marital trouble, child behavioral problems (for parents experiencing behavioral difficulties with their children), workplace conflict and depression, to name a few. Last year, 700 members of the Cornell community and their dependents used these services.
Each employee and member of his/her immediate family is eligible for up to eight, free counseling sessions from the EAP annually. The consultation service to supervisors is free at all times.
"It's good for employees to know that the program is in their workplace," said EAP counselor Emily Sorel. "Over the years, they've used it as they've needed it and as their families have needed it."
In addition to the EAP, also available to Cornell employees and members of the greater Tompkins County community are the separate services offered by Family and Children's Service. Dedicated to maintaining the integrity of the family, it is a local agency that provides residents with extensive clinical counseling, home health care for the elderly and infirm, youth services -- specifically, programs for placing high-risk youth in positive environments -- adoption and foster care.
Family and Children's Service is a United Way member agency. This article appears courtesy of the Cornell United Way Campaign '96.
Cornell United Way campaign information is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.gsm.cornell.edu/unitedway or from Rhonda Velazquez via e-mail at rhv2@cornell.edu or by telephone at 255-6418.