By Vicki Sowles, Mental Health Technician<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve\u00a0worked in psychiatric care for more than two decades as a Mental Health Technician\u00a0(MHT).\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0spent thousands of mornings stepping into the rooms of people who are often scared, exhausted, and unsure of what comes next. I feel fortunate that\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0been able to help them through some of the hardest days of their lives.\u00a0<\/p>\n
People who\u00a0haven\u2019t\u00a0worked within a psychiatric hospital often assume we are \u201csupport staff.\u201d That\u00a0couldn\u2019t\u00a0be further from the truth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve\u00a0seen MHTs advocate for patients who\u00a0couldn\u2019t\u00a0advocate for themselves.\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0seen them sit with someone who is\u00a0confused, grieving, or hallucinating and\u00a0help\u00a0them find their way back to stability.\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0seen them prevent\u00a0aggression\u00a0from escalating\u00a0with nothing more than patience, presence, and skill.\u00a0<\/p>\n
MHTs\u00a0work hand-in-hand with nurses and doctors to\u00a0help\u00a0ensure our patients receive the best care possible.\u00a0We build trust \u2013 learning their history, helping them set\u00a0goals\u00a0and\u00a0learn\u00a0coping skills.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0important they feel hope; hope that they\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0always have to feel the way they do when\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0in our care.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Because of that constant presence, we are often the first to recognize when something is wrong.\u00a0We\u00a0see\u00a0the\u00a0earliest\u00a0warning signs of agitation. We\u00a0can tell\u00a0when someone is withdrawing\u00a0or quietly falling apart. We\u00a0know\u00a0when a patient is about to go from calm to crisis in seconds because\u00a0we\u2019ve\u00a0been at their side all day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And when a patient does escalate, we are the ones who use verbal de\u2011escalation, body\u2011language awareness, and trauma\u2011informed approaches to\u00a0help\u00a0keep everyone safe. Nurses do critically important work, but they\u00a0lack\u00a0the time to spend hours in continuous engagement with patients.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
MHTs do\u00a0\u2013 and this\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0theoretical.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a daily reality.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0supporting high-quality care every day for our patients, California state agencies are considering emergency staffing regulations that would reduce the number of MHTs at psychiatric hospitals and replace them with more nurses. I respect nurses deeply \u2013 we\u00a0significantly\u00a0rely on each other\u2013 but the proposed changes\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0reflect\u00a0what\u2019s\u00a0needed on the ground.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
If these regulations move forward as written, the consequences will be felt\u00a0immediately. Less capacity\u00a0and\u00a0heightened\u00a0risks\u2014the\u00a0core\u00a0outcomes\u00a0these regulations\u00a0are intended to improve\u2014by removing\u00a0the very people patients trust most.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Patients tell us things they\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0tell their families, their doctors, or even their nurses. They trust us because we are\u00a0ever present alongside them\u00a0\u2014 during meals, groups, the quiet moments when they finally feel safe enough to\u00a0share.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That trust is not replaceable.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When patients feel abandoned or unsupported, aggression\u00a0can\u00a0rise. Isolation rises. Fear rises. And in psychiatric care, those emotions can turn into\u00a0potentially\u00a0dangerous situations very quickly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Removing MHTs from the floor\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0just change staffing ratios. It changes the heart and emotional climate of a unit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
California\u2019s\u00a0staffing proposal assumes that more nurses automatically result in better care, but psychiatric hospitals\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0function like medical\u2011surgical units. The work is relational, behavioral, and constant. It requires eyes, ears, and hands on the floor\u00a0at all times.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The hospital in which I work already has capacity\u00a0challenges in accepting more patients.\u00a0And,\u00a0we\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0the only hospital forced to do this. Throughout the state, those on the frontlines continue to report an urgent need for more beds, more compassionate care, and more help. Unfortunately, the proposed staffing ratios\u00a0would push us further in the wrong direction.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If the goal is safety, stability, and high\u2011quality care, then California should be strengthening the MHT workforce \u2013 not sidelining it. Regulations should reflect the reality of psychiatric care, not the assumptions of people who have never worked on the floor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mental illness can affect any one of us. If I were ever in the position of my patients, I know exactly who I would want by my side \u2013 someone who has the time, the training, and the heart to sit with me,\u00a0listen to\u00a0me, and\u00a0support\u00a0me through the hardest moments of my life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s\u00a0what MHTs do.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Vicki Sowles has worked as an MHT in Sacramento since 1999.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Vicki Sowles, Mental Health Technician I\u2019ve\u00a0worked in psychiatric care for more than two decades as a Mental…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[2093,121,123,122],"class_list":["post-299860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-mental-health","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}