Ongoing aftereffects to trauma are natural, Jeep counselor says

Nightmares. Impaired judgment. Chills. Headaches. Hyper alertness.

Visualizing the scene over and over and over again.

These are just some of the reactions people have after a traumatic event at work, such as the shooting spree at DaimlerChrysler AG's Toledo North Assembly Plant that resulted in the death of two employees and injury of two last week, says a mental health professional counseling Jeep workers.

All employees at workplaces where traumatic events occur are affected to some degree, and they go through various stages as they try to cope, said Marilyn Knight, president and chief executive of Incident Management Team Inc. of Novi and Farmington Hills, Mich.

"Every single person within the organization is a victim to some extent because it happened to their work family," she told The Blade yesterday.

Up to eight professionals hired by the UAW-DaimlerChrysler National Training Center have been at Toledo North since Jan. 26, when second-shift body shop repairman Myles Meyers shot two supervisors and his team leader before killing himself.

Chrysler will offer counseling as long as necessary, said spokesman Ed Saenz.

United Auto Workers Local 12 also is calling in American Red Cross counselors as needed to help those who would rather get assistance away from the plant, said Bruce Baumhower, Local 12 president.

Toledo Jeep Assembly resumed production of Jeep Libertys and Jeep Wranglers two days after the shootings.

Toledo North, the site of the shootings and home to the Liberty, is near normal production, Mr. Saenz said yesterday.

Incident Management has worked with the company and union training center for about 14 years to provide crisis intervention services after traumatic events, Ms. Knight said.

She declined to talk yesterday about specifics involving Toledo Jeep employees but discussed general issues involved with responding to such crises.

The company prefers to talk in groups to employees exposed to a traumatic event such as an industrial accident or bank robbery, Ms. Knight said.

Some employees may need individual counseling, she added.

Part of the process involves alerting employees to the types of reactions they may encounter so they realize those experiences are healthy and normal, Ms. Knight said.

People need to assign blame before they feel safe again, she said.

"I like to refer to it as an emotional or a psychological injury," she said.

Contact Julie M. McKinnon at:

jmckinnon@theblade.com

or 419-724-6087.