I have been a target of severe workplace bullying resulting in PTSD which then grew into legal charges due to being suicidal and dissociating, bullying in the courts, bullying from the Public Defender Agency, bullying from the Department of Corrections (including medical staff, especially their nursing staff and a psychologist, with severe malpractice from all areas) bullying from Sarah Palin’s staff, bullying from law enforcement officers, bullying from the Department of Law (A.G. office), bullying from the public defender agency, bullying from state and federal government agencies, bullying from landlords (ongoing), bullying from staff at women’s shelters on the Kenai Peninsula, lies printed about me in a newspaper(along with them leaving out dropped charges in the court section so they could publish an article that it was ongoing), sabotage of my professional career (board of nursing, Sarah Palin's office and the workplace bullies), wrongful imprisonment while several government agencies allowed my cat to be harmed and my property stolen/destroyed (including the public defender agency who was actually harming me instead of helping me), medical bullying and community bullying which is also known as community mobbing. There are groups who function as gangs with very tribal in-group/out-group behavior that perpetuate bullying and violate the rights of others in large numbers in Alaska. This gang bullying I have experienced continues to this day. It includes the apartments where I live at this time, extends to not only the corporate owners and management company, but also the USDA and a construction company out of Wasilla and Anchorage. This may all seem difficult to believe, but I have come to understand it is all common practice. The reason so much has happened to me is I have the courage to speak out about the abuse. Most of those who were bullied in Nome simply leave and remain quiet, I will never be quiet about it. Bullies become quite frantic when they are afraid of exposure which is why the bullying will continue.
In the past a prosecutor and judge in Nome Alaska had me arrested on a warrant in Homer Alaska after the State Troopers investigate a false accusation and found no evidence I did the crime. A moron would have known the people who told the lies were psychopaths because for one thing the story was changed often. Sometimes it happened during the day and sometimes at night, the prosecutor knew it was a lie even though he isn't all that bright. Sure he was taken in by the workplace bullies who BTW in other countries are not considered reliable witnesses due to constant lying and frequent psychopathy, but those two psychopaths in Nome are not very clever fellows. This was done for retaliatory reasons and it was clear they were trying to find a reason to have me incarcerated already, they did not care that the accusation was obviously false, they were happy to use it. This is why they didn’t tell me about scheduled hearings on multiple occasions, the usual technical reason for incarcerating those with legal charges in Alaska for retaliatory reasons.
Workplace bullying is a subject that is difficult for those who have not experienced it to understand. Those who would never think of targeting another to inflict intentional psychological harm can‘t comprehend such evil. I am very glad the Workplace Bullying Institute has designated this week for workplace bullying awareness. Without understanding people do not know how to recognize a workplace that is dangerous to their health and career so they can protect themselves. There is much more to workplace bullying that just the direct effects in the workplace.
Where I live in Soldotna the hospital has a reputation of workplace bullying. A man staged a shooting that targeted former supervisors. I met a woman who had been arrested on charges of attempted murder of her supervisor either at the hospital here or the one in Homer when was wrongfully imprisoned.. She described very significant workplace bullying and said she felt like she was being slowly killed. She had never heard of workplace bullying, so I explained it to her. Note, this story has never been in the newspapers. Someone knows this story. I do not remember her name, she is a beautiful black woman who was a lab technician. Someone knows this story and should come forward to tell it. In Homer a nurse hired as director of the operating room was workplace bullied when two surgeons refused to scrub into the operating room or wear scrubs and she filed complaints about them. She was workplace bullied until she was fired. She was doing her job and certainly did the right thing, who wants to have surgery at that hospital…not me. Then she filed a lawsuit and of course lost in that court in Homer. Both of these hospitals are Kenai Peninsula Borough run. While I did not know at first that the significant abuse at the hospital I worked at in Nome Alaska was workplace bullying in the beginning or that I had PTSD I did have a background working with psychiatric patients. Who would think that going to work could cause that kind of psychological injury or physical illness. I had more insight at that point than most victims of workplace bullying. I got rid of my rifle and since I could not get the doctors or mental health professionals to do the right thing I waited until a locum tenens or traveling doctor came and got a prescription. I am very proud that as sick as I was I managed to do the right thing to protect both myself and others. If I was not medically bullied when I tried to get help after the abuse was so bad that I had PTSD along with CFS/ME and Interstitial Cystitis being triggered and becoming so severe I might not have such a bad case of PTSD now. Instead they spread more false rumors about me. Two of the doctors were not trying to harm me they just went along with some lies and did not understand what they should have been doing.
PTSD carries a high risk of chemical dependency and suicide. One method of suicide is murder/suicide. In workplace bullying the anger is unbelievable and with PTSD the anxiety is constant and unrelenting, it is difficult to sleep, there may be use of drugs/alcohol and PTSD shuts down the parts of the brain involved in good decision making. Doctors may give people inappropriate prescriptions due to medical problems flaring up from the stress and their inability to recognize PTSD. Narcotics and benzodiazapines are contraindicated. That combination of anger and anxiety can be deadly for those who are in anguish at having lost their job, career, income and health. If someone has lost everything and is very angry at those who caused this to happen along with causing their health to be affected it is very possible violence will happen, especially if suicidal ideation is involved. When you know others have targeted you on purpose to destroy you when you were a good employee with good intentions and they were not even mediocre it is confusing, frightening and devastating. In really sick workplaces like the one I was bullied in the coworkers who watch this happen are confused and afraid. Generally they don’t want to be the next target so they go along with the bullies or try to be invisible. They have seen others get PTSD and become ill. When that person has a nervous breakdown and the bullies say, "See, I told you she was crazy", they don't want to be the next person that is being said about. The target gets no support and the bystanders even perpetuate the bullying by gossiping and spreading false rumors. They may even help the workplace bullies sabotage that person or set them up. This results in the coworkers of the target becoming depressed and feeling helpless. If and when they become targets of the bullying that makes it so much easier for the bullies to destroy them as they have already been affected on the sidelines.
When I got so my brain could work better I did some research and realized I had PTSD. I knew I should get rid of my rifle and get on medication for a period of time. The psychiatrist had refused to see me five times before I had the meltdown and since then I received medical bullying at the hospital. In fact one of the workplace bullies, my direct supervisor said I could not be admitted to the hospital while a psychologist stood there advising that I should be. It is in the police report.
My goal is to get my good name back, make sure the bullies are exposed and do whatever I can to educate people about workplace bullying so they know how to recognize them which gives them the ability to protect themselves and help their coworkers who are targets. I don’t have to worry about being a target or horrendous retaliation for speaking out, it has already happened and has been ongoing on many levels for years. I am now on disability, they can't cause me to loose my job anymore. They do however go after me in the places I live. I don’t care if these right wing authoritarian followers don’t like me, in fact I take that as a complement. Just keep doing your dirty deeds and I will keep on telling the stories.
At the end of this video Dr. Namie discusses using power in numbers in the workplace. I have worked in some healthy workplaces where if a doctor was yelling at a nurse all the others who could do so safely stopped what they were doing and gathered behind that nurse with their arms crossed staring at the doctor who would soon scurry away. Then there were committees where workers could complain about bullying and other bad behaviors. One doctor was told by a committee to issue a sincere apology to myself for telling me I needed to learn my place and I was not the one who reported him, I believe it was another doctor. He was an evangelical dominionist, woman hating authoritarian follower who did not really believe in science so of course he just loved me. Often being called to the committee to discuss the behavior changes it. I have worked where there were workplace bullies before, the difference is my coworkers supported me. I think if most people knew their support not only could help keep someone from getting PTSD, depression or possibly prevent a chemical dependency problem they would be more likely to speak up and offer support. They just need to understand what is happening in order to take action and that is what Freedom From Workplace Bullying Week is all about.
We need laws in every state not only making this illegal, but to allow the targets of workplace bullying to file civil suits against the perpetrators. Laws have been passed in many other countries which fine employers and workplace bullies along with jail sentences. In the United States we are corporate controlled. The corporations have gone after unions and have deteriorated working conditions for employees. They have taken their businesses to countries where they can pay workers a pittance and escape providing benefits such as medical insurance. That makes it harder for people in the US to find jobs and more likely people will have to put up with workplace abuses. Since we have corporations which are often run by psychopaths nothing will be done about harming the health of employees unless we have laws with consequences for such practices.
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