Corrections Stress - 1. General
Proceedings of the Large Jail Network Meeting Aurora, Colorado, March 23 - 25, 2014
Sections of these proceedings are: about this meeting; meeting highlights; "I.L.P.: Intelligence-Led Policing in a Detention Environment" by Ed Beckman; "Segregation of High Risk Medical and Mentally Ill Inmates": "Part 1. Segregation of High Risk Medical and Mentally Ill Inmates" by Herbert L. Bensen", and "Part 2. Successful Practices in Preventing Inmate Suicide" by Jack Herron; "Staff Misconduct" by Wendell France; "Crisis Intervention Teams" by Shayne Grannum; "Counterfeiting and Jails: The National IPR Coordination Center" by Tony Ruocco; "Staff Wellness...
Trauma Annotated Bibliography
"This bibliography attempts to offer a compilation of information on trauma-informed care by reviewing general information about trauma as well as focusing on the criminal justice system and corrections (women, adults, and younger people), peer support, and screening/assessment for trauma. In addition, definitions of many of these tools are provided" (p. 3). Eighty-four resources are organized into the following areas: trauma-informed care in general; trauma-informed care in the criminal justice system and in corrections; trauma-informed care for youth in the...
Occupational Stressors in Corrections Work Annotated Bibliography
"Corrections work of all disciplines, whether in institutional or in community-based settings, has been recognized as being exceptionally stressful. Traditionally, this has been regarded as a consequence of staff’s exposure to multiple organizational stressors and also operational stressors. Examples of organizational stressors are role problems, demanding interactions with other staff or justice-involved individuals, and low organizational support. Examples of operational stressors are shift work, high workloads, and mandatory overtime.
The effects of these types of stressors have also been thought...
Minimize Compassion Fatigue, Avoid Burnout and Reignite Your Passion
This is an excellent introduction to compassion fatigue (CF) (aka corrections fatigue) experienced by correctional health care staff. "While there is some literature on CF and burnout among correctional officers, there is scant information on how these phenomena affect correctional health care staff. This article discusses ways that CF may adversely impact the well-being of qualified mental health professionals who work in jail and prison settings. When left untreated, CF may result in serious and detrimental personal costs to the...
Hazmat Suit for the Soul
This three part series addresses the issue of corrections fatigue and how corrections staff can deal with it by developing "hazmat suits for their souls". A hazmat suit for the soul allows you to respond to the "hazardous materials" of daily stress and dangerous incidents during work and to "decontaminate" emotionally afterwards. Part One explains "complex trauma", how it can result in psychological symptoms, diagnostic psychiatric disorders like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), adverse workplace performance, costs, and neurobiological changes. Part...
Corrections Stress: Peaks and Valleys
Staff is the life blood of any agency and its most valuable resource. Their wellness is paramount to organizational health and mission effectiveness. What can individuals and organizations do to identify issues commonly associated with corrections stress and cultivate a climate of staff resilience and agency health, stability and excellence?
During this broadcast, we will: Acknowledge the effects and consequences of corrections stress on staff and the organization; Identify commonly referenced terminology that informs the discussion of corrections stress; Explore...
The Vicarious Trauma Toolkit (VTT) (2017)
The VTT includes tools and resources tailored specifically to these fields that provide the knowledge and skills necessary for organizations to address the vicarious trauma needs of their staff.
Prison Officers Need Help, But They Won’t Ask for It (2014)
Newsweek, May 2014.
Report on "the mental health of corrections officers, who, according to one study, have rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) comparable to military combat veterans."
Running on Empty: Compassion Fatigue in Health Professionals (2007)
Defines compassion fatigue, who it affects, sign & symptoms, contributing factors, what can be done, and how to develop a compassion fatigue prevention toolkit.
Prioritizing Wellness for Corrections Officers (2016)
This two page handout provides statistics on corrections officer wellness and suggestions on what policymakers can do to address it.
Vicarious Trauma
Office for Victims of Crime Training and Technical Assistance Center
Learn more about the impact of vicarious trauma on individuals and on organizations, as well as resources designed to help you identify and address vicarious trauma proactively.
Mission Critical: Correctional Employee Health and Wellness (2020)
In recent years there has been a notable increase in research on the ways that correctional occupational stressors can erode the health of correctional employees (Ferdik & Smith, 2017). This increase parallels correctional administrators’ and other stakeholders’ heightened concerns regarding relationships between occupational stressors and employees’ health, performance, and work engagement. These concerns were articulated in a 2017 resolution of the American Correctional Association called the ACA Resolution Supporting Correctional Employee Wellness 2017-1. This resolution states that the adverse impact of the job on correctional employees’ wellness is a critical issue that has reached crisis proportions because the occupational risks...