A perspective from Sara Eklove, RVP, AllOne Health
Over the past year, something has come up repeatedly in conversations with healthcare leaders—and it tends to land the same way every time.
“I think we’ve been asking our clinicians to hold more than the system is designed to support.”
The specific words may show up differently depending on who you’re talking to—HR leaders, CNOs, physicians, care coordinators—but the meaning is consistent. Clinicians are showing up every day for patients in systems that are increasingly complex, increasingly stretched, and not always designed to take care of them in return.
And all too often, that gap is where burnout takes hold.
The data reflects what leaders are already seeing on the ground:
- Roughly half of physicians report symptoms of burnout, depending on specialty and setting (Medscape Physician Burnout & Depression Report, 2024–2025).
- Clinicians spend up to 28 hours per week on administrative work and documentation, often extending well beyond clinical hours (published clinical time-motion studies).
- And more than 100 million Americans live in mental health workforce shortage areas, which compounds pressure across already strained systems (U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration).
But what is often missed in the numbers is this: clinicians are not disengaging from care. They are carrying too much of it, with too little support around them. But they keep going.
Clinicians are trained to help others cope. Asking for help themselves — especially within their own system — can feel like professional vulnerability. So they don’t. And the weight compounds. Not because they don’t need it—but because the expectation to be the one providing care makes it harder to be the one receiving it.
That’s where the conversation around Employee Assistance Programs has to evolve. EAP can be part of the solution, a tool to ensure that support is actually reachable when it matters.
Understanding the root cause: Burnout is not only about capacity, it is about access to support. The defining difference between stress and burnout is based on the presence or absence of something. Stress reflects, “there is too much,” whereas burnout signifies, “there is not enough.” Burnout happens when the cumulative stress is simply too much and the coping mechanisms that once worked to manage the stress collapse.
Clinician burnout is often discussed in terms of workload. But just as important is what happens when someone decides they need help.
How long does it take to access it?
How many steps are required?
How visible is that process inside their own system?
How much energy does it take to even begin?
Those questions matter as much as the availability of care itself.
Because in real clinical environments, timing and friction often determine whether support happens at all.
How EAP can better support clinicians in real life
When EAP is designed around how clinicians actually work—short windows, unpredictable schedules, high emotional load—it becomes more than a resource list. It becomes a functioning entry point into care. Here are some key steps:
1. Meeting clinicians in the moment they are ready—not after
In healthcare, readiness for support rarely arrives on a schedule.
It shows up after a difficult shift. In the car between sites. In a brief pause during a long day that doesn’t slow down. In the middle of a day where the administrative burden overwhelms the positive impact of the clinical work.
Modern EAP models that include AI-supported entry points can help meet clinicians in those moments—privately, immediately, and without requiring them to plan ahead or navigate multiple steps.
That matters because in many cases, the hardest part is not willingness. It is timing.
2. Reducing the distance between “I need help” and “I’m connected”
One of the most persistent challenges in behavioral health access is not awareness—it is navigation.
Even when someone is ready, the path to care can feel fragmented: forms, calls, wait times, uncertainty about where to start.
AI-supported navigation within EAP can help reduce that friction by guiding individuals more directly to the appropriate level of licensed care. Not by replacing decision-making, but by simplifying the path to it.
The goal is straightforward: fewer steps between intention and connection.
3. Extending support into the spaces between sessions
For clinicians already engaged in care, support cannot only exist in scheduled appointments.
Between sessions is where real life happens—and where momentum can easily be lost.
Within a clinically guided structure, AI-enabled tools can help reinforce coping strategies, support reflection, and maintain continuity between touchpoints. Not as therapy itself, but as a way of keeping care active between moments of formal support.
This is especially important in healthcare environments where time is fragmented and schedules are unpredictable.
4. Helping leadership see what is happening earlier
One of the most valuable shifts EAP can enable is visibility.
When engagement patterns are viewed in aggregate and de-identified, they can help organizations better understand where strain is emerging—by department, shift, or role.
That does not replace human insight—but it does add an earlier signal. And in healthcare systems, earlier signals often mean earlier intervention. And in an ideal world, it means prevention.
How AllOne Health EAP is approaching this shift
In conversations with healthcare organizations, a consistent theme emerges: leaders are not looking for more complexity. They are looking for systems that actually fit the realities of their workforce. AllOne Health has invested in AI-enabled mental health support within its EAP offering to help reduce friction in how clinicians access care and connect to support. Our AI-supported experience is designed to:
- Provide immediate access to support through a mobile device, without requiring scheduling or waiting
- Offer private, low-barrier entry points that help individuals process what they are feeling and decide whether they want to connect with a human counselor
- Enable seamless escalation to licensed counselors, with context carried forward so individuals do not need to repeat themselves
This is not about replacing human care. It is about making it easier to reach it when someone is ready.
And when they are, the transition into care is direct—connecting individuals to licensed counselors by chat or phone with continuity from the initial interaction.
That means support that is:
- Available 24/7, because clinician schedules are not 9–5
- Easy to access in the moment, without requiring planning or preparation
- Designed to reduce friction, not add steps, especially in high-stress environments
- Connected directly to licensed clinicians, so support does not stall at the point of entry
- Able to provide aggregated insights to leadership, so patterns of strain can be seen earlier, not after escalation
At its core, this is not about adding another tool. It is about making existing support actually reachable in the moments it is needed most.