Shell-Shocked Bear Stearns Employees Turn To Psychologists

Shell-Shocked Bear Stearns Employees Turn To Psychologists

Facing the loss of their life savings and very possibly their jobs, employees at investment bank Bear Stearns are turning to trained professionals -- not for financial advice but for psychological counseling.

The company, which collapsed suddenly last week when real estate clients withdrew $17 billion in two days, will provide psychological counselors, called employee assistance professionals, to help workers handle the news that their plans and perhaps their dreams have abruptly and dramatically changed.

"Employee assistance professionals are behavioral experts in the workplace. Anything that effects human behavior or emotions at work are the areas where we focus. We're not looking at the financial realities of a situation, but the emotional impact of that situation," said John Maynard, CEO of the Employee Assistance Professionals Association, the largest such organization in the country with 4,000 members.

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Read about what Bear Stearn's meltdown means for you.

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