The Evolution of the EAP: What Good Support Really Looks Like with David Nix

Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) are among the most common workplace mental health benefits and among the most misunderstood.

In this episode of Headspace for the Workplace, I am joined by David Nix, a nationally respected EAP leader with more than two decades of experience supporting the oil & gas industry, working on military bases in Iraq, and supporting remote oil fields in Alaska.

Together, we explore the evolution of the EAP from quiet crisis hotlines for alcoholism into proactive, culture-shaping systems that support people, leaders, and whole organizations.

Drawing on emerging research, including recent findings on modern EAP models and their effectiveness, this conversation challenges leaders to rethink what “good” EAP support actually looks like and how to ensure it truly serves their people.

SPECIAL EPISODE Work-Related Suicide -- An Occupational Health & Safety Perspective: Interview with Dr. LaMontagne & Dr. King | Ep 28

A growing focus in the media, policy circles, and research is emerging on the correlation between work and suicide. Specifically, a growing body of robust evidence links various psychosocial working conditions and job stressors to suicide. Diverse perspectives exist on the current state of evidence concerning causality and intervention, as well as the most suitable policy and practice responses. In this podcast episode, I interview two global experts who share their views from an occupational health & safety (OH&S) standpoint concerning work-related suicide, with a primary emphasis on the potential for working conditions to serve as modifiable risk factors or protective elements in the context of suicide among the working population.

We define work-related suicide as a suicide death that is entirely or partially connected to work or working conditions. We also consider the working conditions of the individuals who died by suicide.

We discuss:

How is work-related suicide defined from an OH&S standpoint?
What are the potential work-related contributors to suicide?