BRENTWOOD — Pilgrim Psychiatric Center was created nearly a century ago to care for individuals with mental illness.
These days, the center could be looked at as a halfway house because many of the individuals CSEA members care for have drug addictions and belong to gangs.
Jones
“The individuals we care for now are not the same as the individuals we were working with when I first started,” said CSEA Pilgrim Psychiatric Center Local President Arnold “Rashad” Jones. “Many of them have been incarcerated and come here with a jailhouse mentality.”
Jones maintains that some individuals enter the facility, study their surroundings and figure out a way to take advantage of their situation, whether it be extortion, drugs, prostitution or bringing weapons into the facility.
The type of issues an individual attracts is often based on the neighborhood where the facility or home is located.
“We’ve had individuals who establish contact with their dealer and bring crack to their rooms,” said Jones. “They may have [mental illness], but they are not stupid. They know how to manipulate the system.”
Challenges for workers
This provides an even greater challenge to CSEA members who care for the individuals. When staff members enforce facility regulations, individuals have been known to orchestrate a plot to get that staff member fired.
Jones said he wants the state Office of Mental Health to be proactive, not reactive.
“We’re on the wards every day,” said Jones. “We can see what’s going on and we know what’s going to happen if something isn’t done about it.”
During labor-management meetings, CSEA Pilgrim Psychiatric Center Local officers have encouraged management to install more lights around the facility and establish rules that protect CSEA members from possible assault, if they were to encounter a more troubled individual or the individual’s cohorts.
“What you don’t want is someone’s brother or young uncle to show up here and become violent because an individual was violent towards their loved one,” said Jones.
Individuals have been known to threaten workers by saying they will meet them outside by their cars.
Pilgrim Psychiatric Center Local officers advise members to file accident reports and violence reports, and ensure their supervisor know that individuals are bringing illegal items into the facility.
Jones said he believes that the documentation will help CSEA arrange a health and safety walkthrough.
The extreme levels of stress are having a negative impact on the mental health of members that encounter violent individuals.
“This is a trauma-filled situation,” said Jones. “How can you execute your responsibilities to their fullest extent when you’re concerned about being threatened or attacked?”
Some members have been so frightened of individuals who have attacked them that they will call out sick or lock themselves in a room to avoid being confronted by that individual. Some workers note they are afraid to wake individuals up in the morning, because the rooms are dark and members are afraid of being hurt.
Jones believes that violent individuals should be in facilities with direct support more equipped to work with them.
“These individuals aren’t wandering around, picking their nose,” said Jones. “The rules, regulations and laws have to be adjusted to make the individuals accountable for poor behavior.”
— Wendi Bowie
