State Department Held Workshops For Employees Dealing With Trump Transition Stress

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By Thomas Phippen

The Department of State held workshops for agency employees struggling with the emotional stress of the Trump Transition in December, the Washington Free Beacon reports.

The workshop, titled, “The Emotional Transition: Managing the Stress of Change,” were advertised in an agency-wide email, and employees were allowed to dedicate work time to the hour-long sessions.  The sessions were held Dec. 8 and Dec. 14, a month after President-elect Donald Trump defeated former State Department Secretary Hillary Clinton in the presidential race.

“Change is an inevitable part of the human experience,” an email invitation for the workshop said, according to the Washington Free Beacon. “We can become paralyzed by fear or allow the experience of change to propel us closer to self-actualization.”

“Our perspective determines our outcome,” the State Department continued. “This seminar is designed to discuss the impact of change; the emotional cycles some people experience when confronted with change, and tools to effectively manage the stress of change.” (RELATED: Trump Transition Team Asks State Department To List Who Works On ‘Gender Equality’)

The stress workshops were sponsored by State’s Bureau of Medical Services, which regularly provides “treatment for problems related to the stress of deployment to high-threat posts, overseas crises and other stressful situations encountered by Foreign Service Officers, family members and State Department employees overseas.”

The transition may be particularly stressful because of the change in parties, according to an official at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

“In many ways … people expect significant change with the upcoming administration given the change in the political party,” Steve Shih, deputy associate director for senior executive service at OPM said in an interview with Government Executive Dec. 19.

“This is a transition where one party will be in charge of the House and the Senate, as well as the executive branch, so because of this, there is a greater potential for a reform agenda that involves greater change,” Shih said.

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