After losing your job, it may feel like the world is crashing down. People can suffer emotional and psychological effects that might have far-reaching implications.
That’s why a Maryland therapist is putting together a group that will offer free mental evaluations for recently fired federal employees who need help.
“Can you imagine? The bottom falls out,” said Roz Beroza, a therapist who operates out of Silver Spring. She’s been a social worker and therapist for 40 years in the D.C. area.
Beroza is leading an effort to establish the Therapist Recruitment Project, a network of more than two dozen licensed therapists offering free consultations — mostly virtual — for former federal workers who need it.
“People are first in shock,” Beroza said. “They are not able to pay their mortgage … get medicine or go to the doctor.”
And that can traumatize someone, especially a person who has invested in a career in the federal government and now suddenly sees that career in shambles.
“It’s not just losing a job, it’s losing a career,” Beroza said, adding that for too long, federal employees have been demonized by politicians.
She credited those federal workers who have, in many cases, spent decades as public servants.
“I’m trying to serve government employees who have been traumatized by the unethical and immoral treatment they have received by this administration.”
If you are a therapist and would like to volunteer with the Therapist Recruitment Project, you can email rozberoza@gmail.com.
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