Take Charge At Work

Take Charge at Work is a telephonic coaching program designed, by Optum, to help people with depression improve performance at work.

Interested individuals take an online assessment consisting of 13 questions to determine if they show signs of depression and if their work life is negatively impacted. The assessment calculates a score and the individual receives a message with suggested next steps.

Qualified and enrolled participants will work with an Optum coach for up to eight telephonic coaching sessions. Optum utilizes the Creating a Balance workbook to facilitate the coaching sessions. The workbook is broken into eight chapters and is available printed or electronically in a pdf.

You will first complete the online assessment and receive a score. This will take a couple of minutes to complete. Depending on your assessment score, you may be eligible to participate in a screening call. This call can take up to twenty minutes.

Once you have been screened, you are eligible to enroll in the Take Charge at Work program. Participants will meet telephonically with a coach bi-weekly for eight sessions. These sessions are expected to be 30-45 minutes. It’s up to you to pace the program to meet your own personal schedule. Your coach will help you determine the best pace for you.

Our assessment is an industry standard survey designed to measure the symptoms of depression and whether a person’s depression is affecting their performance in the work place. The Take Charge at Work program initially uses the assessment to determine if an individual would benefit from the program. Then throughout our coaching program, the assessment is again used to measure an individual’s progress.

The Take Charge at Work program is available to you through your employer benefits.  There is no additional cost to you to take the assessment or participate in the program.

Yes. The results of all assessments and program participation are confidential and are not shared with your employer. If you decide to participate in Take Charge at Work, you may choose to have Optum notify any treating physicians you are currently seeing, in compliance with relevant privacy laws.  

If you decide to participate in Take Charge at Work, you may choose to have Optum notify any treating physicians you are currently seeing. You are also welcome to discuss your participation in the program with any of your current treating physicians directly. 

The privacy of participation in the Take Charge at Work program is protected by reasonable safeguards (administrative, physical and technical) and in compliance with relevant privacy laws¹. Your employer will not be informed that you took our assessment or are participating in the program.

¹ The service is confidential in accordance with the law.

Take Charge at Work has been developed to help people experiencing work place issues as a result of depression. The program can help you improve your attention span, increase memory, guide you regarding work place conflict and help you develop skills to make your work day more pleasurable. Through our Creating a Balance workbook, you will work on ideas and exercises to help you overcome your challenges.

Our coaches are licensed masters level mental health professionals or licensed PhDs. They have direct clinical mental health experience in Employee Assistance Programs, health care companies, and public as well as private clinics. Our coaches are experienced with chemical dependency and work place issues and possess knowledge of behavioral risk factors and performance issue resolution.

Yes. The Take Charge at Work program is designed to help you deal with work place issues associated with depression.  If you are already participating in other counseling, you might benefit by participating in Take Charge at Work as well.

If your assessment scores indicate that Take Charge at Work is not appropriate for you, there are still other services available through Optum.  These will be presented on the results screen.