2,400 Kaiser mental health professionals, including therapists, psychiatrists, and drug treatment counselors will hold picket lines across the state including at Oakland Medical Center, and Santa Rose Medical Center.
Emma Olsen is a psychologist at Kaiser Vallejo, she specializes in treating patients with ADHD. She says the strike is to protest cost cutting shortcuts Kaiser is taking that are affecting patient care.
“Trying to force us to see more patients back to back. So, wanting us to work like an assembly line. They’ve hired unqualified telephone representatives to screen patients when they call for help instead of using actual licensed therapists. And there’s even been talk of wanting to just completely outsource all of the mental health services at Kaiser, or even replacing some of our work with AI.”…