LINCOLN- Over the weekend, mental health specialists at the Lincoln Regional Center escalated calls for change and attempted to raise awareness of their working conditions at Nebraska's psychiatric hospital. The specialists, or techs, rallied on Saturday outside of the Governor's Mansion before regrouping on the north steps of the State Capitol to debrief with State Sen. Carol Blood, who is one of the few state officials attempting to address their concerns.

Jennifer Head, one of the techs present, described a patient's assault on two techs that occurred last week. The patient, who had no behavioral health issues since receiving care at the facility, assaulted a woman in her 60s. "He assaulted her, kicked her like she was a soccer ball," said Head. Other workers in attendance at the rally raised similar concerns, saying that the conditions of the center should raise an alarm for lawmakers.

Yvette Olivetti, a union representative for the techs, said state inaction was the reason they were rallying. "Words are meaningless unless they're backed up by action, and that is going show techs that [lawmakers] actually care about our safety, our well-being, our own mental health, and various other issues," she said. Several other workers described other bad conditions at the center, like the loss of a 45-minute break window and a lack of staff, forcing many to take on mandatory overtime shifts.

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