Page 9 - Work Force March 2025

A ‘beyond traumatic situation:’
Woman discusses Kingsboro assault
BROOKLYN — Widjine Exius felt like she landed her dream job soon after graduating from high school, but she never imagined that it would end in a nightmare just a year later.
Exius, 19, who was studying psychology at Medger Evers College, worked as a mental health therapy aide (MHTA) at Kingsboro Psychiatric Center. She had just passed her probationary period when she was violently assaulted by an individual as she was ending her shift on Dec. 11, 2024.
Advocating for safety “A lot could’ve
been done to prevent this situation,” said Exius. “For starters, he should not
have been in an outpatient facility with his history.”
The individual
who assaulted her
had a long history
of aggressive
and dangerous
behavior. He lived
in a Transitional
Living Residence
(TLR) on the sprawling Kingsboro campus. CSEA continues to advocate that more needs to be done on TLRs to ensure that workers are safe.
“Most individuals in the TLR are not fit to be there,” said Exius, who has still not returned to work and took the spring college semester off from her job to deal with her trauma. “We don’t have the tools to help them.”
An audit released in February 2024 by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli found that “poor oversight and bureaucratic delays
in a New York State’s gold-standard program for treating mentally
ill people at risk of becoming violent have led in recent years
to preventable injuries and even deaths,” according to a The New York Times report.
Listening to workers urged
While her tenure at Kingsboro was brief, Exius offered some observations and suggestions for dealing with or avoiding similar situations in the future.
“I feel like this situation was beyond a traumatic situation,” said Exius. “It’s not
just surreal to me, but also to my fellow co-workers because there was an ongoing issue with this individual that was just never addressed. It’s like everyone predicted it would happen.
It wasn’t magic or rocket science. He was an unstable individual and he should’ve never
been there (the TLR).” A simple remedy, she
recommended, should involve regularly listening to and following up with the issues and concerns of the frontline workers.
“We have the closest contact with the clients,” said Exius. “We are with them 16 hours a day. We know them better than the doctors and nurses.”
She urged management to speak with staff and listen to their stories. “It would change the perspective
of the people there just by listening,” said Exius. “I don’t think that the
Widjine Exius, shown here, is dealing with trauma after being assaulted on the job as a mental health therapy aide at Kingsboro Psychiatric Center.
“When it comes to patients, it’s important to properly assess them. The patients that are coming from inpatient to outpatient usually don’t fit the requirements. They aren’t rehabilitated or ready to be introduced to the outside world. That compromises everyone’s safety.”
March 2025
The Work Force 9
people who work there are being listened to.”
On the patient side, while her experience is limited, she expressed concern with the type of individuals entering the TLRs.
“When it comes to patients, it’s important to properly assess them,” said Exius. “The patients that are coming from inpatient to outpatient usually don’t fit the requirements. They may be off their meds or using drugs. They aren’t rehabilitated or ready to be introduced to the outside world. That compromises everyone’s safety.”
She noted how her attacker
was known throughout the facility and the greater community for his aggressive behavior and proclivity to violence.
Lasting trauma
During her assault, Exius said she was particularly perturbed by the seemingly lackadaisical response
by a witness to the assault. Though other MHTAs were eventually notified and hospital security and the NYPD dispatched, Exius said she felt like she was abandoned when she
needed help the most.
Hospital security personnel, Exius
added, were rarely a presence at her facility.
“Some of the staff have been working there for decades and are still using the same methods to deal with different situations,” said Exius. “I don’t want to blame the staff because at the end of the day they haven’t been trained to work with the kind of individuals that are coming into this facility.”
Exius was punched in the face, thrown on the floor and held down for what seemed an eternity until the individual was separated from her with his pants pulled down.
Still coping with the physical and emotional toll of the assault, Exius still envisions herself in the field of mental health but not necessarily in the same environment.
“I can’t come back as a MHTA,” said Exius, who was attracted to the field so she could help those who couldn’t help themselves. “Not enough people care about the MHTAs’ safety.”
— David Galarza