STAR Health at the University of Delaware is offering new counseling services — including mediation, conflict resolution and mental health — to employees and the general public.

The Rev. Cecily Sawyer Harmon, a licensed clinical social worker who previously worked with UD’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP), is co-located with the Nurse Managed Primary Care Center at the Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus Health Sciences Complex on South College Avenue and is available by appointment on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

“People meet with me for a lot of reasons — stress, difficulty with a co-worker or manager, a group that’s struggling to get along, couples in need of counseling, depression, grief — the list goes on and on,” said Harmon, who is also chaplain to the Episcopal Campus Ministry at UD.

Harmon accepts some major commercial insurance plans as well as UD’s EAP benefits.

The University’s EAP is designed to provide services to employees, pensioners and their dependents who are enrolled in a non-Medicare state of Delaware health insurance plan.

Human Management Services (HMS) has been selected by the state of Delaware to provide these services. HMS is available seven days a week, 24 hours a day to answer UD employee questions about services and to provide telephonic support. Contacts to HMS are completely confidential and are provided at no cost.

To receive an assessment and/or up to five short-term counseling sessions free of charge, call HMS toll free at 800-343-2186. HMS staff can provide callers with a list of approved counselors who accept UD’s EAP benefits. Those who would like to see Harmon specifically, or have another counselor in mind, can tell a call center staff member, who will refer them to the counselor of their choice.

Those who do not want to use their EAP benefits and instead would like to use their health insurance plan benefits to see Harmon, or who have questions about her services, can contact Harmon directly at 302-831-3987.

At STAR, Harmon will work in concert with clinicians at the Nurse Managed Primary Care Center.

As the public-facing health care entity of the University’s College of Health Sciences, STAR Health aims to be a one-stop shop of person-centered clinical services for the greater Newark community and a college representative said Harmon’s skillset adds to that aspiration.

Harmon will also work closely with the UD Employee Health and Wellbeing team with a primary goal “to provide employees resources to bring their best selves to work each day.”

Harmon has a bevy of experience in conflict resolution and social services. Before her tenure at UD, she worked in Liberia as the country’s assistant director of social services. She helped Liberians struggling with mental health plights.

She also was a passionate advocate for the nation’s orphans, and a signature achievement was facilitating a negotiation with the federal government to pay for orphanages’ medical needs.