Psych Tech

Safety concerns, protests persist at Napa State

2012-01-02T15:34:00.000-08:00

In 2011, labor unions have gathered employees on numerous occasions in front of the hospital on the Napa-Vallejo Highway to protest work conditions at the hospital they say remain unsafe.

But the California Department of Mental Health, which announced in December a plan to overhaul its agency into a new Department of State Hospitals, wants to eliminate more than 600 positions statewide, including 270 filled positions, as the state’s fiscal crisis continues. After the announcement, union representatives expressed concerns at the department’s plan to increase patient-staff ratios. Article

Dear President Obama (and Others Concerned About Violence And The Mentally Ill),

2011-01-19T12:56:00.000-08:00

I know you are a person of conscience dedicated to serving the people of our great country. Your role in addressing the recent tragedy in Tuscon was as appreciated as it was healing.

I think it's important to also acknowledge state hospital caregivers whose work environment places them in danger of being killed everyday. A mentally ill inmate taking the life of a caregiver has little meaning in the halls of a forensic psychiatric hospitals because the inmate has already been certified criminally insane. To be killed by a mentally ill person already deemed incompetent to stand trial means your death will not see justice. Your demise will be perceived as a work hazard you knew about before taking the job. Television coverage will be minimal and local politic will inhibit legal recourse for your survivors.

Your salary, less than a congressional aide's, will hardly cover funeral costs. A motley group of coworkers and union representatives will organize events to shed light on your unfortunate death, but most of the discussion about change will occur behind closed doors. Nothing short of spectacle around a high profile murder committed by a mentally ill person will draw attention to your tragedy.

Loss of life is sad under any circumstance and our country must go on. I understand the need to promote public service in the wake of an attempted assassination. Public service is indispensable to democracy but can we also say state hospital workers are public servants? Can we say the value of a human life is the same whether in the halls of national government or the back ward of a mental institution? I think so.

Did you know that due to healthcare cutbacks workers in mental institutions can find themselves surrounded by 50 to 100 criminally insane inmates (aka: forensic patients) at any moment? Did you know some hospital policies afford no protection to workers other than their wits? And, that it is often against policy to strike back if attacked by an inmate? The are no security details, no CCW's (concealed carry permits), no self-defense weapons or techniques, no cell phones to call 911, no constant electronic surveillance, and so on allowed in the work environment. Workers simply walk around doing their job hoping today is not the day they'll be injured or killed.

If workers in state hospitals are not safe how can anyone else expect to be? The fact may be people are dying inside and outside mental hospitals because the mental health system is unable to fulfill its mandate to secure inmates and protect the public from harm.

As a former licensed state hospital professional I've walked the halls of mental institutions at night. I've witnessed inmates slashed to pieces, set afire while sleeping, and pelted with sacks of urine, feces, and bleach. I also know what it's like to be attacked by an inmate already incarcerated for double murder. Several of my coworkers were injured and/or put on permanent disability as a result of their injuries. Everyone who works in a state forensic hospital has stories to tell.

Like most people, state workers have their limitations and faults. But most are hard working people, parents, community workers, and just plain ordinary folk trying their best to do one of America's most dangerous jobs. Their plight affects all of us.

Here's a cable television show of a former inmate interviewing a hospital employee. Their conversation offers a glimpse into the grass root struggle hospital workers face:

Thank you for your attention to this issue and for your ceaseless work on behalf of our country. Please accept my blessing for your continued success. Lama Rangdrol

What we know.

2011-01-18T11:49:00.000-08:00

Some people are in danger of being murdered by the mentally ill everyday.

Scapegoating the mentally ill to escape political repercussions of moral negligence and culpability?

2011-01-10T23:45:00.000-08:00

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It's not enough to blame the mentally ill for their actions. They don't live in a vacuum. Like the rest of us, mentally ill people respond to environmental messaging they find themselves influenced by. Unlike the rest of us, mentally ill people sometimes act on suggestions without thinking of the immediate or long term consequences. This is common knowledge.

Leaders empowered to impact millions of people through word and deed share in the responsibility of the actions of those people. If not legally, then morally at the very least. Moral culpability: A person who causes a result negligently if there is a substantial and unjustifiable risk he/she is unaware of but should be aware of.

President Clinton's remarks:

"We can’t ever fudge the fact that there is a basic line dividing criticism from violence or its advocacy. And the closer you get to the line, and the more responsibility you have, the more you have to think about the echo chamber in which your words resonate." Bill Clinton Article

Without adequate healthcare the mentally ill will continue to be left to their own thoughts as a means of navigating increasingly complex public discourse. Political debate may continue at a feverish pitch, but perhaps we can at least agree the human cost of insufficient mental healthcare affects us all.

Tuscon

Did you know? Singer died after being restrained...

2010-12-20T13:58:00.000-08:00

While being held in restraining chair at the Cuyahoga County Jail's psychiatric ward, R&B singer Sean Levert died after his breathing was constricted, according to medical reports by coroner Frank Miller. An autopsy was conducted but the results will not be back for about six to eight weeks, he said.

Now the family of Sean Levert is asking for the Federal Bureau of Investigations to look into the 39-year-old singer's death.

Levert died on March 30, 2008 just outside of his hometown of Cleveland, OH. His older brother, Gerald, died on November 10, 2006 after an accidental drug overdose when he unknowingly combined prescriptions. Levert was sentenced to 22 months in jail for failure to pay $85,000 in child support. (BlackPressMagazine.com)

Psychiatric patients allowed to watch ultra-violent films on hospital ward, England

2010-12-20T13:50:00.000-08:00

"Patients with severe mental health problems were able to watch violent films while being treated at a psychiatric hospital, a report has found.

Two wards at Queen Mary's Hospital in Roehampton, which treats people for conditions including schizophrenia and psychosis, gave access to 'films of an extremely aggressive and violent nature', the Healthcare Commission discovered.

The watchdog has ordered improvements at the South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust, which runs the wards.

The report also criticised conditions at the men-only psychiatric intensive care ward which the trust runs at Springfield University Hospital in Tooting.

Paranoid schizophrenic John Barrett escaped from the unit in September 2004 before fatally stabbing cyclist Dennis Finnegan in Richmond Park."Article

After Attacks and a Killing, Fear Stalks California's Napa State Hospital

2010-12-20T13:30:00.000-08:00

"In October, a psychiatric technician was strangled inside the hospital’s “secured treatment area,” where the criminally insane live. Last Saturday, a rehabilitation therapist sustained four skull fractures when he was assaulted, allegedly by a patient who, days earlier, was accused of attacking a custodian.

In interviews, staff members describe an environment in which predatory patients prey upon the more vulnerable. The secured treatment area, which is surrounded by a fence topped by razor wire, is rife with gang activity, methamphetamine use, pimping and extortion, staff members say. Yet, hospital police officers are prohibited from carrying firearms or Tasers.

“Every single unit is contaminated in its atmosphere with a culture of violence,” said Patricia Tyler, a psychiatrist at the hospital since 2006." Article

South Carolina: Historic, pre Civil War, mental hospital to be sold to development company...

2010-12-06T15:59:00.000-08:00

"The hospital was built in 1822 to provide care for South Carolina's mentally ill, and sprawls over 181 acres in the heart of Columbia. The property was developed long before the Civil War, but only a small portion of the property has the protection of being listed on the National Register of Historic Places." Article

Roswell, New Mexico: PD responding to more mental health calls

2010-12-06T15:55:00.000-08:00

"Interim Roswell Police Chief Dennis Kintigh says the number of calls the department receives for potentially violent mental patients and nonviolent patients for the past three years appear to be rising." Article

Defense faces large and growing mental health problem...

2010-12-06T15:50:00.000-08:00

"During the past decade 767,290 active-duty military personnel have received a diagnosis for a mental health disorder, according to a series of reports expected to be released today by the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center in Silver Spring, Md. Overall, from January 2000 through December 2009, such diagnoses increased 60 percent." Article

Portland: Mental Health Cuts Put Police on the Front Line of Care

2010-12-06T15:47:00.000-08:00

"“I worry that there’s going to be a tragedy,” said James Craig, chief of the Police Department here, where calls involving the mentally ill increased to 1,645 in 2009 from 1,424 in 2007. “I’m worried that an officer might lose his life dealing with a dangerous person, a person who really needs treatment.”" Article

Wisconsin: Psychiatric Technician Job

2010-12-06T15:44:00.000-08:00

Regular - Part-Time - 3rd Shift. Waukesha County is seeking an individual who, under supervision, will assist psychiatric patients by providing basic care services; and to perform other duties as required." Details

Why we consider the work....

2010-12-06T15:37:00.000-08:00

Psychiatric Technician (Safety) Benefits Presentation

View more presentations from California Prison Health Care Services.

Death by Employment: Is it possible?

2010-12-06T15:34:00.000-08:00

"In October, psychiatric technician Donna Gross, 54, of Concord was strangled to death and robbed at Napa State Hospital. Some jewelry and less than $2 cash and a pack of gum were taken.

Gross was allegedly attacked by mentally ill patient Jess Willard Massey, 37, in a hospital courtyard. It was a killing that hospital personnel reportedly say is just the latest in a string of incidents making them feel unsafe." Article

California: Hug a Thug?

2010-12-06T15:31:00.000-08:00

"At the top of the list imposed by the DOJ was an attempt to ensure “freedom from unreasonable restraint, prevent regression, and facilitate their ability to exercise their liberty interests,” Assistant Attorney General Wan J. Kim wrote to state officials.

Thus began the great bureaucratic gutting of California’s forensic mental health program.

“Our entire effort has been geared toward meeting the requirements of the Department of Justice,” one ASH psychiatric technician said.

Another former psych tech remembered being part of a post-DOJ “takedown” of a patient who had been “cutting up another patient.”

“We’re trying to get restraints on him, and the psychologist is saying, ‘Now if we let you up, you promise not to be violent?’”

Internally, some staffers like to refer to the new methodology as “hug a thug.”" Article

China: nursery school deaths probe will not study killers' mental health

2010-05-17T20:13:00.000-07:00

"It was the first public comment by a Chinese leader on the violence since the latest attack, in which a local landlord hacked to death seven young children, a teacher and the teacher's elderly mother at a village nursery school on Wednesday.

Under orders from the central propaganda department, most of the main Chinese news organizations have declined to run follow-up stories on Wednesday's attack, which took place in Linchang, a village in the Shaanxi province. The Chinese often avoid discussing mental illness. It is reported that the killer, Wu Huanming, 48, had tried to commit suicide twice in the last month." Article

Porterville technician charged in patient's death

2010-05-04T12:55:00.000-07:00

"John Richard Fleming did not follow procedures for care of a patient restrained in a wheelchair, which resulted in the 62-year-old woman's death March 14, Porterville police reported.

Investigators found that the woman had slid down into the chair into a position that hindered her ability to breathe, police said. The chair is equipped with a lap belt and a tray that aids in holding the occupant in place." Article

Nursing Database Omits Dangerous Caregivers

2010-02-15T22:57:00.000-08:00

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"In their ongoing series on nursing oversight in the State of California, Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein of ProPublica are out with another story about California's shortcomings in regulating healthcare professionals. Weber and Ornstein reveal that the national database that tracks dangerous or incompetent caregivers is missing serious disciplinary actions against 'what are probably thousands' of health care providers. The revelations apparently surprised federal health officials, who just last month proclaimed that 'no data is missing.'

For almost twenty years the federal government has kept a database of disciplinary actions against doctors and dentist, and in 1999 individual state boards were required to include in the database reports on all other healthcare professional, including nurses, whose licenses were restricted or revoked. In California, however, not all penalized caregivers were included in the federal database. For example, California has formally disciplined 84 psychiatric technicians over the last two years, yet the federal database does not contain a single report of discipline against a psychiatric technician in the State of California." Article:

Mental Health Worker Shot During Home Assessment

2009-12-29T17:21:00.000-08:00

"Memphis, TN - Debra Evans-Brooks says her sister walked away from the shooting in the 1600 block of Gregory Avenue in Frayser Wednesday afternoon without injury. She says it was her sister's male co-worker who was shot.

'Angela and he are very close,' she said.

Evans-Brooks says her sister and the victim work for Crisis Stabilization Unit in Memphis and were out doing a home assessment on a man living in the house. She says CSU evaluates people like the mentally ill." Article

Psych Techs Embed in Miltary Operations

2009-12-07T14:44:00.000-08:00

"Operational Stress Control and Readiness, or OSCAR, teams will soon be assembled at the battalion and company level, putting mental health support services much closer to combat troops, according to Marine Administrative message 667/09, signed Nov. 23.

These teams include mental health professionals such as Navy psychiatrists and corpsmen trained as psychiatry technicians. They were requested by operational commanders and have served previously as part of a pilot program to train and deploy mental health professionals with Marine regiments and groups. Embedding mental health support down to the company level will make it easier for Marines, especially those leery of seeking help, to get the services they may need, officials said.

Through prevention, early identification and intervention with stress-related problems, OSCAR teams will help “keep Marines and sailors in the fight,” according to the message.

The program creates full-time billets within Marine divisions and infantry regiments, positions that will be filled by psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, mental health clinical nurse practitioners and psychiatric technician corpsmen on loan from naval hospitals.

The teams also will include battalion and company personnel, such as chaplains. They’ll work with Marines on identifying combat stress and developing techniques to relieve it.

The program also creates OSCAR senior mentors — infantry and company executive officers and senior enlisted Marines — who will oversee battalion staffing and training. Enlisted Marines and officers will be selected to serve as peer mentors, working directly with Marines on the front lines." Article

Wisconsin nurse and PT fired...

2009-12-07T14:36:00.000-08:00

"Following an internal investigation, Norwood Health Center Administrator Rhonda Kozik said a nurse and a psychiatric technician did not provide the level of supervision required, Kozik said.

They were fired Nov. 20, 10 days after Steven Wenta, 40, of Marshfield allegedly entered the room of a Wisconsin Rapids woman and sexually touched her while she slept, according to the criminal complaint. He faces one count of misdemeanor fourth-degree sexual assault.

Wenta has been admitted to Norwood on various alcohol and mental commitments five times since July, according to police records, but Kozik said he had not been a problem until the assault.

'The policy was in place. The staff did not follow the policy,' she said.

Neither of the involved staff members have a history of negligence, Kozik said." Article

Psychiatric technicians weigh in on kidnapping case...

2009-12-07T14:22:00.000-08:00

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"Long before Brian David Mitchell was accused of kidnapping 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart, relatives and others were worried about his seemingly sexual interest in children.
Mitchell's sister-in law testified Tuesday that a box of photos her sister gave her contained a disturbing image: two girls about ages 6 and 7 sitting on kitchen chairs nude.

The children, Evelyn Camp said at a hearing to determine whether Mitchell is competent to stand trial, "did not look happy."

Camp said her sister, Wanda Barzee, later said her husband when asked about the photo replied: "Who wouldn't want to take a picture of their little girl naked?"

Then, when Mitchell landed at the Utah State Hospital for evaluation years later, staff members also were concerned about how he preferred to deal only with the young female employees.

Psychiatric nurse practitioner Leslie Miles said Mitchell knew the schedule of one young staffer and would go to her work area...
Psychiatric technician Tracey Killpack, who was 18 when she began working at the hospital, said Mitchell was a 'little creepy' in the way he paid the most attention to young women on the staff. Killpack said she overheard Mitchell tell another patient that if a woman is being raped and doesn't call out for help, she's the sinner." Article

Two very different articles appear at the same time...WTF?

2009-11-04T11:09:00.000-08:00

First Article -

Techs work for no pay
"Psychiatric technicians at Lanterman Developmental Center on Temple Avenue work three days a month without pay - holding on to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's promise that they will eventually be reimbursed with extra vacation hours.
'What's happening is slavery,' said Brad Whitehead, president of Lanterman's chapter of the California Association of Psychiatric Technicians. 'You are telling people to come to work when they don't get paid. If you are on the schedule and you don't show up, you'd be AWOL-ed.'
The center has laid off 33 workers so far this year. It does not have adequate staffing to allow for three furlough days each month for state workers, which was mandated in July by Schwarzenegger, Whitehead said." Article

Second article...

Psychiatric Technician Programs Have a Bright Future in Psychology
"Psychiatric technician programs form the right foundation for students who are interested in a glowing career in psychology. A Psychiatric Technician (PT) Is the one who takes care of emotionally or developmentally disabled people. Such a person has to make use of scientific, technical and manual skills, taught in the psychiatric technician program, to reach out to patients and cure them of mental and developmental disorders...Such is the requirement of psychiatric technicians, that it is believed that this field will be one of the most envied ones with amazing career prospects in the next five years." Article

Excessive Overtime Said To Compromise Staff and Patient Health

2009-10-26T15:04:00.000-07:00

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California

"Reporting from Sacramento - The state auditor Tuesday identified more than 100 nurses and psychiatric workers on the state payroll who have at least doubled their salaries with overtime, working as many as 90 hours a week.

One nurse at Napa State Hospital made $733,000 in overtime in the last five years -- 66% of his total earnings -- by logging 51 extra hours each week during that period, according to the report by State Auditor Elaine Howle. She called for caps on overtime and other changes to prevent abuses and problems." Article

Jobs

2009-10-26T15:02:00.000-07:00

George Washington University Hospital

"Meet the needs of patients and to support the Department by performing a variety of service related activities, including maintaining facilities, supplies, and assisting with basic patient care activities.

* Maintains assigned hospital areas in a clean, orderly, and attractive condition by performing a variety of cleaning activities.
* Assists with patient nutrition activities to ensure accurate and timely service. Assists patients with eating as needed.
* Maintains par levels on SPD carts, distributes supplies, picks up and delivers instruments.
* Transports a variety of materials, including but not limited to: specimens, pharmacy cart/supplies, general supplies, medical records, films, reports, and mail.
* Transports patients throughout the facility. Accompany patients out of the unit for group walks, individual passes off of the unit." Article

Other Jobs:
Las Vegas
Pennsylvania
Dallas
Louisiana

Lama Rangdrol to give public teaching in San Diego and San Francisco

2009-10-20T11:19:00.000-07:00

A great time to meet:

San Diego:
November 4, 2009
Indigo Village
1054 Second Street, Suite B
Encinitas, CA 90024

San Francisco:
November 6-8

Rainbowdharma events are always LGBT/Poly Friendly

California Association of Psychiatric Technicians file lawsuit to fight furloughs;

2009-10-19T19:57:00.000-07:00

Posted on the CAPT website
www.psychtechs.net
August 17, 2009
The California Association of Psychiatric Technicians filed a lawsuit today in the Sacramento Superior Court on behalf of its 7,000 state-employed members outlining several illegal actions taken by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and state departments toward CAPT members in state hospitals, developmental centers and prisons.
According to the lawsuit:
• California Labor Code Section 212 requires employees to be paid in cash or cash equivalents. Because the three-a-month furlough days implemented by Governor Schwarzenegger are entirely unpaid, CAPT contends the furlough days are clearly illegal according to this Labor Code. In addition, the state is only paying Psychiatric Technicians for 32 hours out of a 40-hour workweek, which also is a violation of Section 212.

• State departments are not complying with Governor Schwarzenegger’s own court-approved executive order requiring employees to take unpaid furlough days off work. As level-of-care nursing staff caring for Californians with severe mental illnesses and developmental disabilities, CAPT members are subject to legal staffing ratios. Their requests to take furlough days off are frequently and consistently denied, with the reason being that the required staffing ratios must be met. Therefore, state departments are in violation of the governor’s own executive order.

• Governor Schwarzenegger implemented a third furlough day instead of the 5-percent pay cut he originally proposed, creating a violation of collective bargaining law. When the Legislature turned down his 5-percent pay-cut proposal, the governor implemented the third unpaid furlough day; however, absent legislative approval of salary reductions, as outlined in Government Code Section 19826 (b), neither the governor nor his representative, the Department of Personnel Administration, can implement pay cuts.

The union’s lawsuit is separate from lawsuits filed by other unions. A hearing date is forthcoming.
CAPT members currently are holding weekly informational pickets calling for the reduction or complete elimination of furlough days and an end to the proposed layoff of dozens of vital level-of-care employees. The next informational picket will take place Wednesday, August 19, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. at Coalinga State Hospital, 24511 West Jayne Ave., Coalinga, Calif.
Members of the public are welcomed and encouraged show their support for state Psych Techs’ services by filling out an online petition at www.psychtechs.net. Signatures will be forwarded to decisionmakers during CAPT’s continuing efforts to end harmful staffing reductions and cuts.
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The California Association of Psychiatric Technicians is the elected union for more than 7,000 state-employed Psychiatric Technicians and related workers who provide compassionate, professional mental health services for the Californians in our care. CAPT also is the official professional organization for all of the state’s 14,000 licensed Psychiatric Technicians.Article

Job

2009-10-11T21:25:00.000-07:00

Mental Health Worker
Education: High school
Location: Chicago, Illinois, United States
Posted by: Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights
Type: Full time
Salary: $25,108 - $27,713
Last day to apply: December 8, 2009
Last updated: October 9, 2009
Sector: Nonprofit
Language(s): English
Job posted on: October 9, 2009
Area of Focus: Health, Mental, Human Rights and Civil Liberties, Human Services"
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The World Watches as California's Dream Becomes a Living Nightmare

2009-10-07T20:46:00.000-07:00

"From its politics to its economy to its environment and way of life, California is like a patient on life support. At the start of summer the state government was so deeply in debt that it began to issue IOUs instead of wages. Its unemployment rate has soared to more than 12%, the highest figure in 70 years. Desperate to pay off a crippling budget deficit, California is slashing spending in education and healthcare, laying off vast numbers of workers and forcing others to take unpaid leave. In a state made up of sprawling suburbs the collapse of the housing bubble has impoverished millions and kicked tens of thousands of families out of their homes. Its political system is locked in paralysis and the two-term rule of former movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger is seen as a disaster – his approval ratings having sunk to levels that would make George W Bush blush. The crisis is so deep that Professor Kevin Starr, who has written an acclaimed history of the state, recently declared: 'California is on the verge of becoming the first failed state in America.'" Article - World News: The Observer

Patient Spits, Technician Hits....

2009-10-07T12:59:00.000-07:00

Job

2009-10-07T12:54:00.000-07:00

"Position: Mental Health Worker
Department: Mental Health Services – 34th Street; St. Louis Park

Basic Qualifications
• Must Pass a DHS background study
• Must have a valid driver’s license and clean driving record
• Must maintain ongoing in-service requirements
• High school diploma required, prefer college level course work/degree
• CPR/First Aid certification
• Must have a physical form completed by a physician prior to working
• One year (or more) experience working with adults with mental illness" More info

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Mental Health Worker (West Los Angeles, CA)

Exodus Recovery Inc, is currently looking for mental health workers,
12 hour shifts- days and nights
Must have two years of experience working in mental health setting
Must have a valid CA driver's license
CPR more info

Nigeria: 25 Million Nationals Need Mental Treatment Annually

2009-10-07T12:52:00.000-07:00

"Enugu — About 25 million Nigerians require one form of mental service or another annually with the figure likely to keep increasing unless determined efforts are made to reverse the situation.

Chief Medical Director of the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Enugu Dr Ahamefule Agomuo who disclosed this at a training workshop on Community Psychiatric Nursing Enugu said that the people needed more enlightenment and awareness on mental health issues to stem the problem." Article

Startling Reversal - California Relaxes Welfare Rules

2009-10-07T12:22:00.000-07:00

"So Anna Zendejas, a welfare recipient in a farm town 50 miles west of here, was more than a little surprised to get a letter recently saying that she did not need to work to collect her check — in effect, a return to the much-derided welfare approach that existed before a national overhaul in the 1990s.

It was no fluke. This fall, tens of thousands of Californians will be given a similar choice as the state embraces a startling reversal in some of its welfare policies for the next two years." Article - NYTimes.com

Nadya Denise Doud-Suleman Gutierrez aka, Octomom - Psychiatric Technician

2009-10-05T20:02:00.000-07:00

"Nadya Denise Doud-Suleman Gutierrez aka, Octomom was born in Fullerton California. She has a psychiatric technician license, worked as a psychiatric technician at Fullerton Metropolitan State Hospital, received a Bachelor of Science degree in child and adolescent development from California State University, and was in the process of pursuing a master’s degree in counseling when she dropped out of the program in 2008...Vivid Entertainment made Nadya an offer of $1 million to star in a pornographic movie, which she gracefully declined. She finally got a deal for a reality TV show in UK , which will help each child earn $250.00 a day beginning September 2009. What happened is Nadya came to realize the tremendous earning power she could command as a celebrity, if she had made better choices concerning her life and her children’s welfare." Article

Jobs

2009-10-05T19:42:00.000-07:00

San Francisco - LVN/ Licensed Psychiatric Technician

Under the supervision of the Program Coordinator, the LVN/Psych Tech will perform detailed initial assessments of eligible walk-in clients, present clinical information to the psychiatrist, manage front desk triage, and complete all required paperwork. Cross-cover Crisis Program/ Outpatient Program/ ACT Program tasks as assigned.

Rhode Island - Psychiatric Technician (Naval Health Clinic, Newport, RI)

Sterling Medical is accepting resumes for a Pstchiatric Technician for Naval Health Clinic in Newport, RI. The right candidate will have at least 1 year experience and be certified/registered or have completed a Psychiatric Technician program. Interested candidates should send resumes to Nichol R Mulligan by email to nmulligan@sterlingmedcorp.com or by fax Attn Nichol to 513-984-4909. Please reference job code PSYT-NHCR

Call Nichol at 800-852-5678 x152 with any questions.

Psychiatric Technician (Houston, TX)

WOW!!! It's a New Day!!!
At Cypress Creek Hospital we are dedicated to providing exceptional behavioral healthcare in the most compassionate manner possible.
Join our dedicated team of committed professionals because together...Change can happen!

Psychiatric Technician (Port Hueneme, CA)

STG International, Inc., a leading provider of contract staffing services in the government healthcare and human capital sectors, is currently accepting resumes for Psychiatric Technicians to provide services at the Deployment Health Center at Port Hueneme, CA.

STG International, Inc is seeking qualified candidates for Psychiatric Technician positions. These candidates must be flexible to work 8 or 12 hour shifts, Monday through Friday between the hours of 0700-1800.

Feminist Researcher Speaks Out on Concelament of Evidence Showing Violence of Women Eqaul to that of Men

2009-10-05T16:11:00.000-07:00

"Suzanne Steinmetz made the mistake of publishing a book and articles (Steinmetz 1977, 1977-1978) which clearly showed about equal rates of perpetration by males and females. Anger over this resulted in a bomb threat at her daughters' wedding, and she was the object of a letter writing campaign to deny her promotion and tenure at the University of Delaware. Twenty years later the same processes resulted in a lecturer at the University of Manitoba whose dissertation found gender symmetry in PV [Partner Violence] being denied promotion and tenure.

My own experiences have included having one of my graduate students being warned at a conference that she will never get a job if she does her PhD research with me. At the University of Massachusetts, I was prevented from speaking by shouts and stomping. The chairperson of the Canadian Commission on Violence against Women stated at two hearings held by the commission that nothing that Straus publishes can be believed because he is a wife-beater and sexually exploits students, according to a Toronto Magazine article. When I was elected president of the Society for the Study of Social Problems and rose to give the presidential address, a group of members occupying the first few rows of the room stood up and walked out...

Finally, it was painful for me as feminist to write this commentary. I have done so for two reasons. First, I am also a scientist and, for this issue, my scientific commitments overrode my feminist commitments. Perhaps even more important, I believe that the safety and well being of women requires efforts to end violence by women and the option to treat partner violence in some cases as a problem of psychopathology, or in the great majority of cases, as a family system problem." Article

NY prison program manages inmates' mental health

2009-10-05T15:50:00.000-07:00

"The program at the Fishkill prison in Beacon, about 70 miles north of New York City, encourages inmates to take active roles in managing their mental health and treatment. They are taught to identify stressors, coping tools and how medication can help. Participants meet in small groups for two hours a week in the 20-week course. Rodriguez, 42, said it taught him a great deal about his illness. 'Now I have a better idea, better understanding of what's going on with me,' he said. The Center for Urban Community Services, an advocacy group for the homeless and the poor, got a grant from the Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation to run the program for three years. The program, known as 'wellness self-management,' soon will include the Sing Sing and Bedford Hill prisons in Westchester County." Article

Why is there not more public discourse on care concerning the needs of the mentaly ill?

2009-10-05T15:04:00.000-07:00

"...advocates say, reform legislation could be a huge step forward for the mentally ill. Of uninsured Americans who might gain coverage, an estimated one in four has a mental health condition.

But while key lawmakers have included some provisions for the mentally ill in the bills winding through Congress, high costs and competing needs mean the amount of care and the number of people who would get it remain uncertain." Article

Mental health workers sue D.C. to stop privatization

2009-09-21T14:40:00.000-07:00

"Half a dozen unions representing D.C.’s mental health workers are suing to stop the District’s ongoing and controversial privatization of its mental health services.

The suit, led by the D.C. Nurses Association, an AFL-CIO affiliate, goes beyond employment-based claims and alleges that the private sector was ill-equipped to handle the deluge of mentally ill patients public employees were treating before the switch.

Now as many as 850 patients are being forced to choose a private provider even though most of those providers are at capacity and not accepting new patients." Artice - Washington Business Journal

Professionals Face Uphill Battle to Self-Monitor Care and Treatment

2009-09-21T13:50:00.000-07:00

Medical Whistleblower Letter to the United Nations

"There is an appalling lack of Due Process for Medical Whistleblowers who report what they know about the human rights violations. One Medical Whistleblower, Allen Jones, was the Investigator for the State of Pennsylvania's Office of the Inspector General. IAG Investigator Allen Jones reported a widespread corruption of the governmental process to allow wholesale violation of the human rights of vulnerable children and adults by the pharmaceutical companies for profit. Human rights derive from the dignity of the human person. These rights were violated for commercial profit and personal power. When Allen Jones and other Medical Whistleblowers, many of them doctors (Psychiatrists and Psychologists) came forward to report the abuses they saw, they were retaliated against by constructive discharge, employment discrimination, threats against person, and even removal of their medical licenses. Gross mistreatment in connection with in-patient treatment of vulnerable children and adults should not be tolerated under international law." Article

Pressures Mount on Hospitals To Inusre Proper Employee Conduct

2009-09-21T13:29:00.000-07:00

California - "A report that has since been removed from the Web site stated that the rights of a 26-year-old man were violated on Nov. 29, 2008, when a psychiatric technician slapped him and tried to drag him to a room. Five other employees didn't stop the technician, state inspectors found. The psychiatric technician resigned, the report said." Article

Ethics of therapeutic lockdowns?

2009-01-12T02:10:00.001-08:00

Over the years I saw many turn of phrases used to explain the effects of staffing deficiencies, budget cuts, administration changes and the like. There was a never ending circle of new phrases to learn, new names to call people in the system, new ways to chart the same basic way things are done.

Mentally ill prison inmates get help: "Mentally ill prisoners at (Hawaii's) O'ahu Community Correctional Center will no longer be put in 'therapeutic lockdowns,' and treatment plans will be created for them that 'adequately address serious mental health needs."

In this article the term "therapeutic lockdown" should have raised eyebrows way before the lawsuit was filed against the state. The term is an oxymoron from any veteran mental health professional's point of view. Calling a lockdown therapeutic is like calling a boxing match a friendly exchange of ideas.

Layoffs, transfers to undesirable work environments, and hiring freezes tend to quell employees desire to comment on the tasks they're asked to perform. It's difficult to disobey an directive when given a policy that violates someones rights. You ask yourself if the person's civil rights are more important than having a job right now. Generally you go with the flow. You're not an attorney, right's advocate, or department administrator so you do the job to avoid being accused of insubordination. Let the state take the heat.

I once had an ethical dispute with a supervisor. She tried to get me fired by writing up a bogus job performance report and demanding I sign it. She literally met with me in a small office and told me not to leave it until I signed the document. I refused and she referred me up the chain of command until I found myself face to face with the medical director of the hospital. I told the director that there was no policy that mandated me to sign a bogus evaluation. She agreed and let me off the hook with an informal reprimand, which was placed in my personnel for six months.

In order to avoid the supervisors retribution for the next six months, I quit. I figured the hospital needed experienced staff more than I needed the hospital. Seven months later I got job in a different part of the hospital and chucked the reprimand in the trash. Done!

It's like that behind the scenes and I'm sure there's more to the story below. The important point is whether the psychiatric inmates are being treated more humanely. If so then all the brouhaha is worth it.

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Many California Health Workers Not Checked for Criminal Pasts

2009-01-08T04:09:00.000-08:00

I was licensed from 1971 to 2002 without a single incident or complaint. Over the course of my licensure I met many people who should not have been working in our profession. Some got fired, some went to rehab and some were dealt with directly by inmates. The news of lax background checks is very unsettling, unfortunate and outright dangerous to patients and staff alike. Public safety is everything when it comes to the care we provide. My hope is that this situation will be taken seriously by those that are charged with the responsibility to protect the credibility of the professional ranks.

The truth is that there are not a lot of people who are willing to do the job psychiatric technicians face every day. Recruitment is difficult and retention is even harder based on the high stress level associated with the kinds of jobs techs do. Nursing shortages abound and it is hard to let even one staff member go due to past problems they may have had with the law. This problem is as much a staff and budget issue as it is a workplace oversight mandate.

Many California Health Workers Not Checked for Criminal Pasts : "California's failure to check the criminal backgrounds of health professionals extends well beyond nurses, encompassing tens of thousands of doctors, dentists, psychiatric technicians and therapists.

The Times reported this fall that regulators had not vetted about 195,000 of the state's registered and vocational nurses, exposing patients to caregivers with histories of violence, addiction, predatory behavior or corruption."

Purple Heart Is Ruled Out for Traumatic Stress

2009-01-08T03:38:00.000-08:00

Discrimination against mental illness has been a discussion in our comunity for many decades. When someone breaks their leg people have sympathy and want to sign the cast. When a person has a mental episode people shun them and prefer not to have contact until the problem is resolved. This is an old story and it is unfortunate that the military has expressed a similar sentiment regarding award of the purple heart.

Purple Heart Is Ruled Out for Traumatic Stress - NYTimes.com: "The Pentagon has decided that it will not award the Purple Heart, the hallowed medal given to those wounded or killed by enemy action, to war veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder because it is not a physical wound."

Mental patients isolated for years despite laws

2008-12-24T01:50:00.000-08:00

I was fortunate to work in the state of California for the duration of my career. Law there are strict concerning the care and treatment of clients in locked settings particularly on the issue of seclusion and restraint.

I can't recall the hundreds of takedowns or S&R's I've participated in or supervised. I did work on units where one to three a day occurred frequently. I've also worked on what were called "back units," meaning units in state hospitals that housed clients that had been there for decades and had no chance of ever being released.

Most were either exotic cases such as lobotomy patients and untreatable schiz but there general care as I experienced was humanely within the limits of the law.

Some states are not as strict and I was aware anecdotally that abuse was more commonplace around difficult clients. Conditions in Vermont, Connecticut,Washington, Virginia, Montana, Oregon, California and other states are discussed in this article. It's good for LPT's to have an awareness broader than their own job circumstances.

Overall I'm glad to see this discussion taking place out in the open at the national level. It serves as a reminder that human beings are held against their will and treated cruelly in America everyday. I was glad to see the article also cite the reality that staff are at risk for injury constantly as a result of the legal responsibility to treat dangerous patients.

Mental patients isolated for years despite laws
"Mental patients sprinkled throughout the nation's psychiatric hospitals are being locked up alone for years despite laws aimed at preventing the practice, because medical workers say they're too dangerous to handle any other way."

Rapes at mental hospital alleged

2008-12-24T01:27:00.000-08:00

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It's unfortunate yet perhaps poetic that my first post be on such a serious issue as rape at a hospital. Rape in my view is defined as any sexual relations between a staff and client based on the power differential.

I' not aware of the specifics regarding this particular case but the report surrounding the incidents are very familiar.

Rapes at mental hospital alleged
"Some hospital employees contend that both patients and staff are at risk at the institution because budget constraints caused by the worsening state economy are leaving positions unfilled, creating less supervision than necessary for sometimes violent patients. Though Cook (Administrator) agrees that budget concerns have caused some professional positions to go unfilled at the hospital over the past year, he does not believe that such a managerial decision has to lead to physical assaults."

When I started in the mental health industry over three decades ago the very position I worked was created in response to budget cutbacks at a higher salary level.

The direct care provider will be challenged greatly in the near future as budgets subside or disappear. The role of the administration will, as it always has, serve the needs of the institution first. Hopefully the truth will come out and justice will eventually be served.

"It is possible, Cook (Administrator) said, that an improper utilization of staff could result in a lack of the proper supervision. I don't have enough evidence at this point to know whether staffing played any role in the alleged rapes even occurring, he said. The question of how much staffing is enough for proper supervision of mental patients is one that is asked repeatedly by public officials, according to Ted Letterman of the Virginia-based National Association of State Mental Health Directors."