Grief counseling requests rise in wake of state worker suicides

[shanti]

Source: Sacramento Bee

State employee suicides triggered more than twice the number of calls for workplace grief counseling last year compared with 2008, a change that occurred during an unusual period of turmoil for the government's work force.

California government departments in 2009 made 33 requests for "critical incident stress debriefings," in which counselors meet with employees traumatized by the suicide of a colleague.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/08/27/2986251/grief-counseling-requests-rise.html

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this is happening EVERYWHERE now! :(

[superconnected]

1. Now are they going to get grief counseling on days when they're allowed

to work or on mandatory furlongs so the state doesn't also have to pay them for attending the counseling?

Only Schwartzeneger knows for sure...

[valerief]

2. +1

[mike r]

3. Even with the 15% pay cut, they still have good jobs and pensions

compared to the millions out there who are unemployed and truly hopeless.

Besides, their pay cut is only temporary.

[shanti]

4. who exactly are you referring to??

the lowly office assistants or the caltrans engineers?! you are comparing apples to oranges! or are you one of those sacramento bee bloggers who continually slam state workers and their "lavish" pensions!? :grr:

[mike r]

5. 15% pay cut is no reason to kill yourself

doesn't matter whether you're a secretary or anything else.

[shanti]

7. please

stop while you're ahead. unless you're a state worker, you don't know what the hell you're talking about, throwing out your right wing talking points. i work for the state and have a vested interest in all of this! :mad: GAShole, along with pete wilson, has destroyed our state, one reason that i'm retiring at the end of the year on my "sumptuous" $25,000 a year pension. i used to love my job, but the stress is killing me, and it's not just about the 15% paycut.

[Kweli4Real]

9. You are being outraguously insensitive ...

That measly 15% might have represented the difference between affording the rent and homelessness, medication and illness, subsistences and thriving.

You have no idea why one would take one's own life.

[mike r]

10. The pay cut is 15% and temporary

It is 15%, not 100%. And it is only temporary. Suicide is permanent. There is something else at play.

I'm not insensitive to anyone's plight. I'm stating the facts.

[Kweli4Real]

14. That's exactly my point ...

There IS something else at play. But for you to minimize someone else's suffering {e.g., It is 15%, not 100%. And it is only temporary] is akin to saying, "Why are they b!tching about getting their hand hand off, when I had my whole arm cut off?"

Well, they're b!tching BECAUSE THEY GOT THEIR HAND CUT OFF!. Your hurting does nothing in terms of someone else's pain.

[No Elephants]

15. No, you're not stating facts. You are stating an opinion. You have no way of knowing why

suicides among California state workers have increased.

[Kweli4Real]

6. It is troublesome ...

When the working class attack other working class folks. Point you pitchfork at the cause of your misery, not at others whom are being victimized just as you are.

[shanti]

8. thank you for supporting the state workers!

:hi: we're all in this together despite the powers that wish to pit us against each other!

[Iowa]

13. Nonsense...

It is this type of right-wing, anti-labor mindset that allows the elite to continue bulldozing the middle class in a race to the bottom. You have bought into the notion that it's OK to slash the pay of workers who are making a living wage - simply because other workers have it much worse. You appear, based on your comments in this thread, to have lost your ability to think it through independently... allowing the Karl Roves of the world to capture your mindset. The siren song of right-wing talking points is deliberately designed to appeal to the uneducated, ignorant, and easily swayed - those who can be convinced to act/think against their own self-interests. And they do it by appealing to prejudice, jealousy, hostility, and other base instincts. Part of being a progressive is rising above the ignorance that enables one to be so easily conned and manipulated. You clearly have some work to do to get beyond that, if you're even interested in rising above it.

What you SHOULD be pushing is the notion that middle class wages are absolutely crucial and non-negotiable. It is those incomes that are the linchpin of our very way of life, and if we continue this race to the bottom, as you are espousing, it's all over for this country. But no. You come on to a pro-labor, pro-union, pro-middle-class forum and push nonsensical ideas designed to push wages down. You should be ashamed to come here and spew your pro-plutocracy views.

[alp227]

11. Meanwhile a local counseling center for low-income teens is shutting down

http://www.mercurynews.com/rss/ci_15905081
(Archive link
http://www.webcitation.org/5sIkqr0Uh)

Damn this is some sad era right here.

[Omaha Steve]

12. I'm AFSCME and understand all the problems my brothers & sisters are going through nationwide

K&R!

We city, county, and municipal workers have the same stress the real world workforce has. We also have the public calling for cuts to pay and benefits daily in the media. It's hard to miss. Tax payers are lousy bosses. Most private sector jobs don't have to listen to their bosses on the news like we do.

If I lose just my overtime (a little over 10% of my gross) I count on, we would have a hard time paying all our bills on time. We are lucky we have a little $ in the bank and would have to use it. It took us years to get to where we are. My job is safe. If my plant was contracted out, I could bump with my seniority to something else in the city. Marta could be cut any day from her private sector job. Unemployment is a third of what she takes home after her deductions. She has a pay freeze this year. I have had 3 years of the past 7 with pay freezes. Last year after bargaining for to a 3.5 percent increase with the mayor, the city council rejected it. We approved the zero for last year and this year and it was put into effect in June. But I have to pay more on my pension and benefits at the same time. The city caused much of the pension problems (long story), but we workers get to pay for their mistake. So like any family we worry about the economy too.

My local has had to go to federal court to protect our retirees benefits that are contract items. This is going on nationwide too.

OS