OPEA

2 comments (Add your own)

1. Hank wrote:

Thanks Scott for making this available, I work at Taliaferro community mental Health center in Lawton and in 12 years we have gone from 28 to 20 beds. Our budget has not kept up with inflation, we are trying to make payroll, workers comp, and client services with about the same money that we had in the year 2000.
Many of our clients are outpatient and are treated at home but we cover 8-9 counties and are stretched so thin that it is almost impossible for our staff to keep all of the paper work up for there case loads. We need long term drug and alcohol centers added in Oklahoma.

March 24, 2008 @ 10:08 AM

2. Terry wrote:

Sounds like you need something!!!??? Are we talking about Oklahoma state public employees getting a payraise here, or are we advocating for the mentally ill? I work for DOC as a corrections officer. I deal with mentally ill offenders. I know. It is a big job dealing with the mentally ill, however, let's not get carried away here. How can we expect the legislature to fund something like this and give us a payraise at the same time? This is why we have private agencies out there to help the mentally ill. My wife was a senior case manager for one of these agencies. I know all about the impossible caseloads, the long hours, going all day long without breaks, dangerous home visits, the time she and her coworkers got held hostage at knife point in her office by a mentally ill client, etc. You mental health staff need to stay focused on the issues at hand. We need a raise! Repeat after me. We need a raise! Oh, yea, lighten up a little. You can not shoulder the whole world on your shoulders. Take regular breaks, stop to eat, get plenty of sleep, plenty of exercise, stay healthy, and remember, the caseloads and the mentally ill will still be there! That is advice I use to tell my wife all the time. HAHA!

March 25, 2008 @ 2:57 AM

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