Gregg Taylor said the meaningful work he does in his new role as President of FSEAP Vancouver (Family Service Employee Assistance Programs), is exactly why he took his Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology at Yorkville University.
“Being able to contribute to people’s lives in a meaningful way and expand my scope of practice was the reason I did my Master’s at Yorkville in the first place,” Taylor said. “In my new role, there is a mix of managing programs and elements of leadership and also it has a real impact on people’s lives and contributes to bettering workplaces.”
Taylor, 53, took over as President of the FSEAP Vancouver (a division of Family Services of Greater Vancouver), overseeing the BC/Yukon region, in May of this year. FSEAP is a National organization, providing employee assistance programs, workplace mental health consulting, and employee and family counselling.
“People have access to us as part of their employee benefits, so employees can call our 1-800 number be connected with one of our counsellors,” Taylor explained.
The aim is helping to maintain and support a healthy workforce by offering counselling, work/ life services, including nutrition counselling and wellness coaching, critical incident services, and workplace wellness initiatives, Taylor explained.
“We are the fourth largest EAP in Canada, but we are the only national social enterprise non-profit, meaning that our net proceeds go back to family services supports and programs in the community,” Taylor said. “Our values include people before profits, integrity, and transparency, so it is a very rewarding role.”
Taylor also sits on the FSEAP national management committee as Regional Director.
“A Master’s degree and clinical experience along with my business background was required for the role so the MACP was a key career move for me to qualify for this role,” Taylor said.
More than 20 years ago, Taylor had obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration and started his working life in marketing and sales. However, Taylor said, he soon discovered that people-helping was his calling and launched a successful 20-year career in career and employment counselling, the majority of that time running a successful career development and HR consulting company.
In 2012, Taylor returned to school at Yorkville University while at the same time making a career shift, taking a role at FSEAP as an Account Manager & Workplace Consultant supporting mental health and wellness in workplaces.
Taylor graduated from the MACP in 2015 and with his new credential in hand, he was well positioned to take over as President when his predecessor made some changes and left the role.
“Although I have enjoyed a successful career already, I recognized that to stay engaged, employable, and create new options, I needed to obtain a Master’s degree. My MACP and Registered Clinical Counsellor designation allowed me to expand my scope of practice and also qualified me for positions and roles I would not have had access to before.”
In addition to his new role as the President of (FSEAP) Vancouver, Taylor is Past President of the BC Career Development Association, Founding member of the Canadian Council of Career Development, and was Chair of the Career Development Practitioner Certification Committee that implemented the CCDP credential in BC.
