BASIC Information
ABOUT THE PROVIDER
How long has your company been in existence?
ICAS Botswana has been in existence since 2009, previously as GO Corporate Wellness Solutions but as ICAS, for 8 years since 2013
How many companies use your services and how many employees do they have?
Around 40 organisations, including banks and other financial institutions, mining sector and parastatals, covering a total of about 7000 employees and over 21000 lives through our extension of the service to family members of these employees (status as at 12/07/2021)
At which locations are your counsellors active?
Because of the dearth of healthcare professionals in general in Botswana, particularly in less urban areas, most of our counsellors are concentrated in Gaborone, the capital city with some only in Francistown, Palapye and Selibe-Pikhwe. But because of telephone and virtual technology, we are able to reach all beneficiaries in all parts of Botswana.
Can you provide references?
Yes. We are happy to supply you with contact information for our references once we have understood the needs of your organisation and submitted a formal proposal for your consideration.
FROM THE
COUNSELING PRACTICE
Can you describe two or three typical employee counselling cases from your everyday work life?
Most frequent personal problems: relationship (not just partner & spouse but also other family relations), child and family care issues, including dealing with blended families; and Health & Lifestyle as they relate to COVID19 and the related anxiety and stress, loss and bereavement.
The most common occupational topics are:
- Employees complaining about work overload while often already exhibiting symptoms such as demotivation, insomnia, irritation, physical ailments, etc.
- Workplace conflicts with colleagues and superiors are frequent and also very burdensome for employees.
The most frequent private problems include:
- Relationship problems and conflict.
Which cases are the most difficult for you?
Counselling can be difficult if clients do not contact us of their own volition or if clients do not realize their problem.
Although we are fully capable of dealing with suicidal cases due to many years of experience, tested processes and close cooperation cases such as these are very challenging for our counselors
Do you have a systematic complaints management process? If yes, can you describe it?
We do have a complaints management procedure which forms part of the SLAs we share with clients.
How do you deal with acute emergencies such as a suicidal person calling in the middle of the night?
Our Helpline is staffed with experienced counsellors 24/7 on 365 days a year. Proven life-saving processes are in place in case of endangerment.
What can we expect from you if such a case or another event occurs at our location?
Upon request, we will send counsellors and/or psychologists to your location. Our specialists have many years of experience
and further training in emergency psychology, trauma intervention, violence prevention, etc.
What do you do if you learn that a crime has been committed in a company?
Professional industry guidelines provide for the following exception to standard confidentiality:
- Danger to life and limb (threat of murder and bodily injury, self-endangerment, terrorism)
By law, we are not allowed to inform our customer companies in case of theft, fraud, embezzlement, etc. However, our counselors will discuss such matters with our clients and emphasize the importance of reporting this information to the company as we support our clients in taking the next steps.
How do you document your work?
We provide quarterly comprehensive reports and 1 annual review, all of which are anonymised, benchmarked and intervention recommendations made. Reports are not produced where confidentiality may be compromised such as if utilisation is less that 20% or 15 cases whatever the case may be.
COUNSELOR
QUALIFICATION
What are the minimum requirements for your counsellors?
Counsellors:
- Masters Degree in psychology or allied discipline
- Multiple years of professional experience
- Further training in psychotherapy or psychological counseling
Do you also work with sub-contractors? If yes, how do you ensure their quality?
Yes, we work with qualified affiliate counselling professionals in our nationwide networks.
All affiliates are required to adhere to the same standards as ICAS in-house teams.
Which measures for further training of your employees are in place?
On going Continuous Professional development (CPD), including in-house training, is an industry-standard requirement to which all of our counsellors adhere.
DATA PROTECTION COMPLIANCE
How and where do you save personal data of our employees?
We use a customized database solution that fulfills all safety-relevant specifications. Cases are recorded anonymously; i.e. we do not save any personal data.
Any telephone numbers or e-mail addresses that may be required for scheduling personal counseling sessions with a psychotherapist are deleted upon conclusion of the case.
How do you ensure compliance with the Data Protection Regulations
All data handling is carried out with strict adherence to prevailing regulations and periodic reviews are undertaken to ensure that practices remain valid.
WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP
Will we have key account managers if we decide to work together?
Yes, our account managers or client relationship managers are experienced professionals with varied backgrounds from psychology to marketing
Can we meet with your team?
We are always keen to meet our customers in person and will be pleased to arrange a meeting to discuss our proposals and to offer an insight from our counsellors into the approach that we take to providing support.
Can we test the service before committing to a long-term contract?
Yes. we will be pleased to arrange for your representative to make a limited number of test calls to our Helpline.
Member of ICas International
