More than a hundred stakeholders specializing in pacification and security (ISPS) have slammed the door of the National Institute of Forensic Psychiatry Philippe-Pinel for two years, deplores the main union of the mental health establishment.
Updated yesterday at 7:38 p.m.
“We have a big problem. We lose expertise. Many people leave because of the working conditions and the recognition given to employees. We can’t stop the bleeding. It worries us a lot, ”says Marie-Ève Desormeaux, president of the Union of Institute employees, also a speaker.
According to the Institute, 105 ISPS left their posts between 1er April 2020 and March 31, 2022, including eight retirements. However, the Union maintains that the portrait is even darker, that is that 154 ISPS have left in the last two years by calculating in particular the employees on leave without pay.
The Institute currently has 176 ISPS, but 40 positions are not filled at this time, according to Marie-Ève Desormeaux. The union is thus demanding a bonus from the government to succeed in keeping the ISPS, paid between $22.81 and $27.10 an hour for a very demanding job. However, many of them go on to become correctional officers or police officers, which are better paid jobs.
” [Les nouveaux] stay a month, two months, three months and leave. People trained all the time. Management is aware of the issues. They agree with us,” maintains Marie-Ève Desormeaux.
“Attracting and retaining this highly qualified personnel is an important issue for us, and we continue to deploy the necessary efforts to enable us to pursue our mandate. The ISPSs, a unique job title at the Institute, as well as the other members of our staff have skills and expertise that we certainly want to keep,” says Pascale Trudeau, spokesperson for the Institute. “Work is underway at the national level” to determine the pay scale for ISPS, she adds.
The Pinel Institute is hit hard by the labor shortage. The Press revealed Wednesday that the Institute was no longer able to assess the worst criminals in Quebec within the legal deadlines due to the increase in requests, insufficient funding and the lack of psychiatrists able to carry out these specialized assessments.
According to the union leader, the Pinel Institute is an “ecosystem” and the work of psychiatrists – self-employed workers – goes hand in hand with that of other employees.