Dear Penn Community:

Hurricane Ida’s devastating impacts continue to be felt from the coastal regions of the southeast to communities across the northeast. Coping with intense weather is an emotional experience, especially for those who have been directly impacted.

We want to remind you that Penn’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) can help connect you and your families to resources to help those displaced by the storm, working through the process of recovery, or simply responding to the emotional trauma a disaster can create.

If you were directly impacted by Ida, help is available. The guides listed below can connect you to the recommendations of state and local officials during this crisis. For future reference, these sources also provide directions for preparing homes in flood-prone areas and creating emergency plans that families can use when severe weather strikes.

Community Hurricane and Tropical Storm Support Guides

• General Relief and Response Resources
• Pennsylvania Relief and Response Resources
• New Jersey Relief and Response Resources
• Ready.gov Flood Readiness Resources
• Red Cross Flood Relief
• FEMA FloodSmart: Before and After Guide
• CDC Coping with Disaster
• FEMA.gov Flood Insurance Program
• Post-Hurricane Stress, Anxiety, Recovery, and PTSD

In these trying times, Penn’s Wellness team would like to remind you there are supportive resources available to you and your family members, such as Penn’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and other support resources are detailed in the Mindwell at Penn digital guide.

Penn’s EAP is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to assist you. Please feel free to contact the EAP at any time.

• Call: 1 (866) 799-2329
• Schedule an EAP appointment through Penn Cobalt
• Email: EAPinfo@healthadvocate.com
• Visit: Penn Employee Assistance Program website

Penn’s EAP provides eligible faculty and staff and immediate family members - your spouse, dependent children, your parents and parents-in-law, access to free, confidential, 24/7 counseling and referral services for personal and professional life issues from any location.

EAP resources for managers include coaching for interpersonal issues in the office and critical incident debriefings following a traumatic incident for the organization.

EAP services are available by phone, email, webchat, and video sessions. Health Advocate EAP counselors will connect you with the right experts at the right time: masters level clinicians, work/life specialists, medical bill negotiators, and financial and legal professionals. In addition, Health Advocate offers multi-language capabilities.

Each eligible member can receive up to eight free counseling sessions per distinct problem, per year, from the time of your initial intake. If you exceed this limit, Health Advocate will make every effort to coordinate services with your existing health insurance. You may be referred to your insurance plan for services, where applicable, before your eight sessions are completed if it is determined that your clinical needs require treatment beyond the short-term scope of EAP.

Please visit the behavioral health coverage webpage for more information about behavioral health benefits available through Penn’s medical plans for eligible faculty and staff and enrolled dependents.

—Division of Human Resources