Abuse Alleged, Lives Shattered in Southern Md.
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Kizzy
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Mikeinsmd said:
Emotional distress will cloud your judgment and cause one to make poor judgment calls. Many counselors (whatever role) are prone to break downs. You cannot forget that they are human, and they are subjected to more emotional distress than one can imagine. It can become overwhelming and often counselors themselves have to seek guidance and yes, sometimes they have break downs themselves.
I went to a seminar a few months ago that was conducted by a doctor from St. Elizabeth's Hospital that put a very good spin on the subject of caring too much and the effects, and even he admitted that at one point in his career he had a breakdown and talked about the circumstances around what happened and how it effected his personal life. It was just one demanding case that push him over the edge, just one person who sucked the life out of him, who demanded his constant attention and well, it just DRAINED him. His confession was thought provoking to say the least.
Personally, I am somewhat familiar with this women’s work in the school system and I think she was a class act of the trade and well liked among the students. Unfortunately, I believe, she, like many in her field and many who do counseling type jobs, cared way too much and she found out the hard way, you cannot help everyone.
watercolor
yeah yeah
has anyone really read this "alleged" email?
migtig
aka Mrs. Giant
Good point. As both a person familiar with the newspaper industry and as an avid devotee of court tv, I know that sentences can be taken out of context with the written word and have a "brand-new spin" by the time key words have been selected and careful editing has occurred. It's not that it the email is not true, it just may not be the whole truth.watercolor said:
From The Post, her email text reads:
"All I live for right now is the moments when I can speak with you and better yet, see you," "God, I'm obsessed with you. Please help me. I love you." "I just can't afford to be found out."
Very damning.
However, it could actually read in full context something like:
I understand you are deeply troubled and feel unloved and scared and that nobody cares about you. You have told me several times how you want to kill yourself because nobody cares and nobody is there. You told me in your last message “All I live for right now is the moments when I can speak with you and better yet, see you”. I understand and I want you to know that I am here for you. Please help me. I need to understand what’s going on with you so I can help you. Somebody does care for you. I do. I love you. You are a wonderful person and have much to live for. God, I hate what you are going through. Your plight has made me obsessed with your struggles. I want to help you so much and you keep turning to me. I know you have nowhere else to turn. I really do want to help, listen and be there. However, you know that your mother and step-father don’t want you to receive counseling from me. I just can’t afford to lose my job and be found out to be helping you. We can meet and talk and hopefully get you the help you need.
:shrug: I’m just saying, you never know.
Especially with something like this.Ken King said:
Give up, guys. She's guilty as charged. Maybe the parents would manufacture an email but the cops wouldn't and the school system most assuredly wouldn't. The fact that she continued to have intimate contact with this girl after she was specifically told not to speaks volumes.
K
Kizzy
Guest
Ken King said:
I agree, however, the sentence she was given was a joke. These sentences are common when the evidence could persuade either way, and they do it to pacify those involved. I see that an awful lot. Of couse in my line of work, everyone claims they are innocent, however, I have believed a few of them were, a very few, ok 2.
Like Mig said, words are easily taken out of content and we do see that here ALL THE TIME.
And appropriately so. When I read the first few paragraphs of the story, I was like, no way. It seemed completely implausible to me that the guidance counselor would continue with this relationship AFTER she was already half-busted and told to keep her distance.migtig said:
This is very similar to the Michael Jackson case in that it's possible there was no sexual activity going on, but they should be locked up based on extraordinarily poor judgement alone. If this woman is smart enough to be a teacher and guidance counselor, she's smart enough to know that you don't jeopardize your own family and career for someone else's messed up kid. ESPECIALLY when the threat of loss has already been made clear. A normal person would have backed WAY away from this kid and her parents, not drawn closer.
To have a 34 year old woman with that juvenile of a mindset being in charge of kids is just preposterous.
K
Kizzy
Guest
Ken King said:Yeah, but she took the deal of assisting truancy thus avoiding more severe charges. What does that tell you?
She was CLEARLY guilty of truancy, and assisting could mean that she was well aware of it and didn't do anything to report it. In her position, that looks bad. It also looks terrible that she made contact with the girl after she was told not to, but it wasn't continued contact, it was one contact, one contact she SHOULD NOT have made.
Maybe my personal view is clouded over all of this, because I was familiar with her and I had spoken to her in the past. I didn't see it, but then again, I have had an abundance of surprises from 1st impression to beyond that, which clearly left me wondering if I have poor character judgment in others.
Well I know nothing other then what I have read in the attached link and this thread. Hell, I even graduated from Cow Pie High (a long time ago) and am biased to believe that this could never go on at my old school. But Berg was directed to have no contact with the kid at all, she disregarded that and had contact, then there is the email that indicates it was more then just a student/counselor relationship. Throw on top of that the clandestine meeting in the wee hours of the morning and what have you got? Trouble with a capital T. No wonder she pled guilty to the assisting with truancy charge. Which by doing so keeps her off any sexual offender list that could jeopardize her employment elsewhere.Kizzy said:
K
Kizzy
Guest
Yep, and I think there was something in the reading that said she can still provide services just as long as they are 18 and older.
