Your Employee Assistance Program
The Manitoba Blue Cross Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provides employees with direct access to digital resources and confidential counselling services designed to support their health and wellness. It also offers a range of customized workplace well-being services to support employees, leaders and teams in building healthier, more productive workplaces.
Program overview
The foundation of your EAP
Confidential
Feel confident that your privacy is protected. Accessing the program does not require notifying your employer, and we will not disclose personal information to anyone without your written consent.
For more information on how we protect your privacy, visit mb.bluecross.ca/legal/privacypolicy.
Voluntary
Participate in the program on a voluntary basis. The decision to access available services rests exclusively with you.
Accessible
Access support 24/7, 365 days a year. Counselling appointments can be requested online or by telephone, and we offer a variety of flexible options, including in-person, online, telephone and email sessions.
Professional
Benefit from the expertise of a wide network of professionals with over 15 years of clinical experience, on average. We offer an extensive range of clinical services, including substance use and behavioural health treatment, psychiatric consultation, mental health and relationship support, as well as trauma response services.
Counselling
Mental health is an important aspect of your well-being. Let us help you with prevention, early intervention and solution-focused treatment to overcome challenging life events.
We offer a variety of short-term counselling services to meet your needs in areas that address:
- stress
- anxiety
- depression
- grief
- substance use
- behavioural health
- nutrition
- relationships and parenting
- career and workplace
- financial and legal
- and more
Connect Now
A variety of life stresses may result in feeling the need to talk to a mental health professional immediately. Through our Connect Now support line, you can instantly connect with a mental health professional without an appointment or commitment to ongoing counselling sessions.
This service provides support that is brief in nature and intended for those who may not be able to participate in ongoing counselling sessions.
Calls to Connect Now do not count as EAP sessions under your benefits plan, so using the service will not deduct from your available counselling sessions.
To access Connect Now, call us at 204.786.8880 or toll free at 1.800.590.5553.
Diversity
We vow that you will always be treated with dignity and respect. Our commitment includes:
- a diverse group of counsellors representing racialized peoples, 2SLGBTQI+ and many of Manitoba’s cultural groups.
- multilingual counselling services with interpretation available in 200+ languages, including Indigenous languages.
- cultural competency training for all EAP intake and counselling staff members.
Indigenous support and healing methods
Access Indigenous support and healing methods, including Indigenous counsellors, resource consultants and Elders. Our culturally reflective counselling services incorporate traditional Indigenous healing approaches and traditions based upon the importance of nature, spirituality, the circle and the Medicine Wheel.
Indigenous resource consultant
Our Indigenous resource consultant enhances the cultural aspect of therapeutic services for Indigenous clients by:
- incorporating traditional healing methods into treatment.
- creating a navigation plan that addresses client and family needs.
- acting as a liaison with Indigenous organizations and services.
- providing services outside of the traditional counselling setting.
Sharing circles
Available in partnership with Indigenous Elders in our EAP, sharing circles serve as a powerful and effective practice. This tool provides a safe environment for participants to speak about what they are thinking, experiencing and feeling. While the rest of the group listens patiently with compassion, each person is given an opportunity to share. Drawing from an Indigenous perspective, sharing circles serve to counterbalance isolation and promote a sense of inclusion and community.
Sharing circles are available as part of group facilitation hours or on a fee-for-service basis.
Accessible services
Employees can access flexible support 24/7, 365 days a year, including in-person, online video, telephone or email appointment options.
If you prefer to meet with a counsellor in person, counselling sessions can be arranged seven days a week, day and evening, at our state-of-the-art Employee Assistance Centre and in many communities across Manitoba.
- Altona
- Boissevain
- Brandon
- Carman
- Dauphin
- Gimli
- Morden
- Neepawa
- Portage la Prairie
- Rocky Lake
- Russell
- Scanterbury
- Selkirk
- Steinbach
- Strathclair
- Swan River
- The Pas
- Thompson
- Virden
- Winkler
- Winnipeg
Programs and resources
Internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy
Access internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy (iCBT) to help with stress, anxiety, relationship troubles, sleep challenges and more. Program benefits include:
- virtual mental health supports in a private, online space.
- high-quality, evidence-based care.
- comprehensive library of mental health wellness content.
- unlimited messaging with a matched therapist.
Developing Healthy Couple Relationships
Get an expert’s advice on how to have a healthy relationship with our online program that provides an alternative to one-to-one support mechanisms, such as counselling. This self-paced couple relationship education program will help you learn about what makes couple relationships healthy and how to strengthen your own relationship. Suitable for all couples and singles.
Soul Nourishment
Find a sense of peace and calmness through a series of yoga, meditation, mindfulness and mudras. The Soul Nourishment program is created to offer brief calming exercises with a range of video and audio to bring support whenever or wherever you need it.
Workplace well-being
We offer a range of customized workplace well-being services and resources to support employees, leaders and teams in building healthier, more productive workplaces.
Services for leaders and teams
- Consultations: Begin with a consultation to ensure you access the most suitable workplace well-being services, as we proudly offer tailor-made solutions for leaders and teams.
- Strong leader groups: Participate in facilitated debriefings that explore the experiences of leadership in a supportive, collaborative environment.
- Custom groups: Take advantage of customizable support for your team’s unique needs, whether it’s a one-time session or an ongoing group meeting.
- Leadership coaching: Engage in supportive conversations to help you define and achieve your goals, overcome obstacles and advance in your leadership role.
- Critical incident and trauma response: Access specialized support for critical incidents or trauma events in your workplace.
- Workshops and seminars: Attend sessions on a variety of topics related to workplace well-being through interactive learning and practice.
- Organizational wellness assessment: Discover the effectiveness of your current workplace wellness strategy and receive tailored, in-depth solutions for your organization.
- Orientation to EAP benefits: Enhance employee awareness with an interactive orientation (virtual or in-person) to your team's EAP benefits.
More resources:
We’re also pleased to provide a collection of workplace well-being resources created by our team of experts. Resources include:
- comprehensive overviews of the services available through your EAP coverage.
- downloadable resources with advice and tools tailored to the needs of both leaders and employees.
- a curated collection of digital articles on a variety of topics related to health and wellness in the workplace
Addictions Management Program
Our extensive Addictions Management Program provides individual and group treatment for any addiction, with expertise in treating addictions complicated by depression, panic and anxiety, family dynamics, abuse and stress. Our treatment process consists of testing, assessment, group treatment, group follow-up and individual sessions.
Contact us
Employee awareness is an integral component of any successful benefit offering. If you’re interested in booking an orientation to EAP benefits for your team, please call us at 204.786.8880 or toll free at 1.800.590.5553. For the Deaf, hard-of-hearing and speech-impaired community, our EA centre can receive VRS calls. You may also click on the button below to contact us.
The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provides employees with direct access to digital resources and confidential counselling services designed to support their health and wellness. This includes programs and services in areas that address:
- stress.
- anxiety.
- depression.
- grief.
- substance use.
- behavioural health.
- nutrition.
- relationships and parenting.
- career and workplace.
- financial and legal.
- and more.
Employees can contact the EA centre by phone at 204.786.8880 or toll free at 1.800.590.5553. For the Deaf, hard-of-hearing and speech-impaired community, our EA centre can receive VRS calls.
Employees who prefer to book a counselling session online may do so through our online booking system.
If you know of an employee struggling with concerns affecting their health and well-being, we encourage you to let them know about the programs and services available to them through the EAP and how to contact us.
If you are directly affected by an employee’s personal issues or if an employee makes you aware of their personal issues and would like assistance, we offer leader consultations to ensure you’re equipped with the appropriate resources and support.
We offer a variety of programs and services that include group involvement, such as workshops, seminars and debriefs. We recommend requesting an workplace well-being consultation to help determine your organization’s needs. Once a discussion about the challenges you may be facing is completed, we can offer a range of services that can be tailor-made for your organization, including:
- mental health support.
- trauma response.
- crisis event management.
- leadership coaching.
- custom groups.
- and more.
As a leader, it’s essential to promote and highlight mental health supports available to your employees during the onboarding process for new hires and as a refresher for existing employees. This can help reduce the stigma associated with experiencing mental health challenges and seeking support from a professional. We encourage you to request an orientation to your workgroup’s EAP benefits by filling out our workplace well-being request form.
We also offer a variety of downloadable resources that reinforce awareness of workplace well-being, tailored to the needs of leaders, teams and employees.
Leader consultations allow leaders to reach out at any time to discuss concerns they may have in their workplace and can take place over the phone or through online video. These consultations are unlimited and included at no additional cost for groups with EAP coverage from Manitoba Blue Cross.
Yes, we offer critical incident and trauma response support, including consultation services, response planning and structured debriefings in a group or one-to-one setting. Since all organizations are unique and no two events are the same, we tailor a response that fits your organization’s culture, as well as addresses the logistical challenges that can be present in any given crisis.
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