National Institute of Corrections News

Greetings!

The National Institute of Corrections (NIC) will be conducting a 3-Hour Live Satellite/Internet Broadcast on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) entitled “Health Reform & Public Safety: New Opportunities, Better Outcomes,” highlighting key implications for the Criminal Justice System on June 18, 2014 at 9am PT / 9am AZT/ 10am MT/ 11am CT /12pm ET. We are pleased to announce that the introduction will include a taped statement from Attorney General Eric Holder on the potential impact of health care reform on both the individuals involved in the system and the system itself.

The live broadcast is designed to inform and increase awareness around this historic healthcare expansion opportunity by introducing audiences to additional resources created by health care reform. Key broadcast content will highlight promising practices and showcase strategies to expand healthcare coverage to justice-involved individuals. Additionally, NIC will illustrate how the ACA provides opportunities for the criminal justice system to provide continuity of care for justice- involved individuals and explain how it can provide potential cost savings and improve the health of criminal justice populations.

Registration is now available at: www.nicic.gov/go/SIB201406

For more detailed information, please find the attached flier for the broadcast.

The National Institute of Corrections (NIC) announces a limited number of Technical Assistance events on the subject of corrections staff wellness

These Technical Assistance events include Instructor Training for the course From Corrections Fatigue to Fulfillment™, and a web-based Staff Wellness Survey.

This Technical Assistance (TA) is provided by NIC through a cooperative agreement with Desert Waters Correctional Outreach.

INTRODUCTION – Why this topic is important

Correctional mission statements generally focus on maintaining public safety, promoting positive offender change and successful reentry, and assisting crime victims. Corrections work often takes a toll on staff’s well-being and functioning due to repeated exposure to multiple types of inherent occupational stressors—specifically, operational stressors, organizational stressors, and traumatic stressors.

The cumulative effect of these co-occurring stressors upon corrections professionals and upon entire corrections workplace cultures is captured by the umbrella term and construct of Corrections Fatigue. Effects of Corrections Fatigue may be low staff morale, impaired job performance, individual health and functioning issues, problematic professional and personal relationships, and high staff turnover. Corrections Fatigue includes a variety of facets, many interacting to negatively affect staff and the workplace culture in a self-reinforcing cycle which undermines health, functioning, and fulfillment.

Manifestations of Corrections Fatigue among staff may include:

• negative disposition and outlook;
• negatively affected mood, morale, and capacity for empathy/compassion;
• inconsistent or reduced staff support by and for leadership or co-workers;
• unhealthy interactions among staff;
• reduced frustration tolerance;
• and/or lack of job meaning/fulfillment.

Research conducted at Desert Waters Correctional Outreach (DWCO) has been focused on modeling Corrections Fatigue theoretically, and also on measuring it empirically. Additionally, training material has been developed to educate staff on the subject of Corrections Fatigue, including presenting strategies for countering its effects and for equipping staff to move toward professional fulfillment individually and as a workplace culture.

INSTRUCTOR TRAINING

This is a 4-day training for twelve (12) Instructors for DWCO’s signature course From Corrections Fatigue to Fulfillment™ (CF2F). The intent of the Instructor training is to give agencies the instructional resources needed to present CF2F to agency staff. When the course is rolled out at an agency, it is to be offered as an 8-hour class.

Several small agencies can collaboratively apply for the Technical Assistance by sending fewer than 12 Instructor trainees per site, with a class maximum of 12 instructor trainees. **Note: NIC is particularly interested in providing assistance to sites that are located in more rural areas as well as smaller agencies who can partner with other similar sized agencies to form a class of 12.

The CF2F course material is includes the following topics:

• Corrections Fatigue examples, definition, properties, and consequences;
• phases of professional change due to Corrections Fatigue;
• severity of signs continuum;
• paths to Corrections Fatigue;
• the Corrections Fatigue Process Model;
• categories and examples of stressors that contribute to Corrections Fatigue and ways to counter them;
• changes in staff personality, health and functioning, and changes in the workplace culture due to Corrections Fatigue;
• effects of Corrections Fatigue on physical safety, psychological safety, trust, power, respect, connection and meaning, and ways to boost the satisfaction of these dimensions in the corrections workplace;
• Corrections Fulfillment definition;
• individual self-care strategies;
• ways to establish a healthy sense of identity, worldview and spirituality;
• positive leadership and characteristics of high functioning teams;
• strategies to positively impact the climate and culture of corrections organizations,
• and the provision of a list of resources for staff and their families.

The Instructor Training addresses the management of emotionally heated classroom discussions and working with participants who are emotionally distressed. The course includes individual questionnaires and exercises, and group activities.

Coaching

The Instructor Training is followed by four 30-minute individual phone sessions, occurring on duty time. Coaching is to begin within 30 days of training completion, and to end within 90 days of training completion. The coaching allows new Instructors to have focused one-on-one time with a Certified CF2F Coach to review the course material to build confidence and competence, as well as to reinforce program validity. Lack of completion of coaching or poor performance during coaching will result in an Instructor candidate not being certified to offer this training.

Instructor candidates who successfully complete the training and coaching will be certified by DWCO for three years as Instructors or Co-instructors to deliver the CF2F course. Within those three years they will be able to offer the CF2F course an unlimited number of times to an unlimited number of staff at their own jurisdiction/agency or the jurisdiction(s)/agency(ies) with whom they have collaborated for this Technical Assistance. Team-teaching is strongly recommended. Instructors will not be certified to train other instructors. Although not included in this Technical Assistance offering, re-certification by DWCO is available following the three-year period without requiring attendance in an additional 4-day Instructor Training course.

Criteria for Instructor Candidates

• Skill and experience in training corrections employees in a classroom setting
• At least 5 years’ experience working in corrections settings (jail, prison, or community corrections—probation or parole)
• Experience having successfully worked through some work-related challenges
• Ability to present emotionally-laden material
• Ability to moderate emotionally-heated discussions
• Respected by fellow employees and regarded as genuinely caring about staff well-being

WEB-BASED STAFF WELLNESS SURVEY

The purpose of the survey is to collect important information about staff health, well-being, areas of workplace cultural health, and areas of workplace culture in need of attention. The data can then help guide interventions to improve staff wellness and functioning. Agencies will have the option of releasing to DWCO, for research purposes, the non-identified portion of collected data. This will be composed of just numbers and statistics to be added to an anonymous larger data pool that does not include any identifying information, such as the source of the data or location where data were collected.

The survey is made available to agency staff, prior to the roll-out of the CF2F course, through a password-protected web-based application accessible via the internet. Assessment completion is clearly presented as voluntary and anonymous, and data are completely de-identified. The survey is composed of the Corrections Fatigue Status Assessment™ (CFSA-v5), the Depression Danger Scale™ (DDS), and Violence Injury and Death Exposure Scale™ (VIDES) (either all three instruments or one or more of the above instruments in any combination, as desired by the agency). An open-ended comment field is provided also, to allow staff to express any additional comments or information that might be helpful. A comprehensive report of the survey findings will be prepared and sent to those designated by the agency so that future staff wellness initiatives can be targeted to meet an agency’s identified needs. Agency culture improvement is frequently a multi-step process and this survey information can guide those follow-up steps.

AGENCY ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA & RESPONSIBILITIES

Agencies eligible to apply: Departments of Corrections, county jails, probation and/or parole agencies that have not had prior Instructor Training for the CF2F course.

Agencies will agree to ensure that all necessary steps are taken for the trainees to be relieved of their duties as needed in order to be able to participate in the four-day instructor training and then in the four, 30-minute coaching sessions while at work.

Agencies will agree to implement the course, in systematic fashion, with attendance being either mandatory or voluntary, within eight (8) months following completion of the survey and coaching.

Agencies will be responsible for locating the Instructor training site and for covering all Instructor trainee costs. Costs for DWCO facilitators will be covered by NIC.

Agencies will be committed to integration of this material with their existing systems and resources that have been previously designed and implemented to encourage staff wellness

Agencies will be committed to implementation of practices that positively reinforce the transfer of new learning from the classroom to the workplace in order that an emphasis on staff well-being and cultural health be established and maintained long-term.

NIC is interested in the impact of the Technical Assistance with agencies who receive the Instructor Training for the course From Corrections Fatigue to Fulfillment. Agencies receiving the training will be contacted by NIC at a later date to inquire about observations and possible course implementation outcomes.

Letters of request for technical assistance must be forwarded by June 30, 2014, using the following process:

The agency chief executive officer, (see http://nicic.gov/taapplication) must sign a letter of request prepared on official stationery that:

• Describes briefly the issues as it relates to this topic for which assistance is requested.
• Notes in the request how the agency meets those elements stated in the AGENCY ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA & RESPONSIBILITIES in the body of this announcement.
• Identifies the agency contact person by name (if different from the agency head), address, telephone number, and e-mail address.
• References any supporting documentation or background materials that have an impact on the problems needing to be resolved.

Requests should be scanned and emailed to:  Maureen Buell*, Correctional Program Specialist at mbuell@bop.gov

Upon receipt of an official request for technical assistance, NIC will send an acknowledgement letter confirming that it has received the request. Sites will be notified about TA selection via email.

*Potential applicants that have questions about the technical assistance, eligibility criteria or application process, please contact Maureen Buell, mbuell@bop.gov or 202-514-0121.