Like all UK police forces, the Devon & Cornwall Constabulary (DCC) has been under increasing pressure to address the issue of absenteeism. With stress cited as the main cause, the DCC employed its first employee assistance programme (EAP) in 2003 to provide counselling support for employees. At the time, it was one of only three constabularies using an EAP and none of these had been independently assessed. My research in 2006 sought to address this and highlighted a significant “but” in the widely accepted statement that “counselling reduces absenteeism”.

Methodology
Detailed literature review, documentary records (10 years of DCC sickness absence data and detailed EAP reports) and personal counselling experiences.