[Music]

Bret: Now, before we begin
our segments, I

would like for you to watch a
video from several corrections

leaders about the importance of
addressing corrections stress in

today's complex and
contemporary workplace.

[Music]

Terri: Dealing with corrections
fatigue is one of the top

initiatives for corrections
leaders today, and it has to be.

Mack: It's in the best
interest of staff.

All agencies want to have a work
environment where their staff

can feel safe, where they can
thrive and feel productive.

So, in order to be sensitive to
that kind of a work environment,

agencies necessarily have to be
aware of vicarious and secondary trauma.

Betty: it's paramount. It's
integral to the success of

a well-ran institution that
is safe, that is secure, that

provides care, custody
and control of inmates.

If you do not... if you don't
value having healthy employees,

chances are you are setting
yourself upband your institution

for trouble. And so, it's important
that you care about your employees.

Stuart: We have to invest in our most
important asset, and that is our

staff, and that's the people that do
this job that the public will

never truly understand
what they do.

But, we need to understand it and
we need to take responsibility

for that, and we need
to care for each other.

Barbara: The most important resource we
have is our staff, and if our

staff are not healthy and
they're not being able to cope

with stress appropriately,
you'll lead to all sorts of

problems. It could
be disciplines.

It could be loss of life. It
could be hurting of clients.

It could be distruction
in the community.

So, it's critical we deal with
this in a very productive way.

[Music]

Bret: Now, based on
these corrections leaders'

statements, it's imperative we
understand and seek remedy for

corrections stress. So, let's
begin our understanding of

corrections stress with a review
of segment one's objectives.

So, during this segment we will
explore challenges of a

correctional occupational
stressors, their impact on

corrections professionals
and organizations.

Now, to come up with effective and
relevant solutions, we must

first identify and understand
the challenges we are facing.

So, our objectives for segment one
are going to be we're gonna

summarize the elements that
contribute to corrections

stress, and also we will explain
how corrections stress will be

experienced by anyone who
works in the profession.

So, our first presenter
is going to be Maureen.

So, Maureen, why is corrections stress
a relevant topic and why

are we focusing on it now?

Maureen: This is a really
hard profession, and it's not

getting any easier. We
work with really diverse

populations. We have an
influx of folks that

are challenging with mental
health issues. And I think the

public really doesn't fully
understand what our role is and

how challenging the work is.
What's interesting is that there

has been a fair amount of
information that we've seen over

the past number of years around
correctional stress, but it's

really... it's been coming out
of law enforcement, it's been

coming out of clinical social
work, and hasn't been specific

to the role within criminal
justice, corrections, prisons,

institutions and
community corrections.

But, we're starting to see that
information emerge, and what

we're learning is
really pretty critical.

So, what we would like to do in
this broadcast is to really draw

attention to this topic and to
really build some awareness

among corrections leadership as
well as the staff about things

that we can do to
address this topic.

You know, it's interesting,
what's been happening over the

past decade, I think in
corrections is that we have

really been incorporating more
practices in our work that have

an evidence base and
knowledge informed.

But, I think that what I'm
hearing oftentimes from staff

and even training and such,
is they'll say, "You know,

you're really
teaching us about

how to improve outcomes with the
population, but what about us?"

So, I think that's what we
really want to accomplish in

this broadcast. We want
to really move the

profession forward in terms
of addressing issues that

contribute to
corrections stress.

We heard in some of the clips
earlier that our workforce is

our most valuable resource.
We need to take care of our

staff. So I think
with the challenges

that present themselves on a
day-to-day basis, I think, we're

going to talk about how we can
address some of those things today.

Bret: Excellent. And so, moving forward
is our goal. So, what

are some of the realities
of working in corrections?

Maureen: Well,
we're all people.

And, you know, we
bring our life experiences

into the workplace. You know, something
occurs on the outside to us

in terms of family issues
or financial issues, those things

impact us. So we bring our life oftentimes
into the institutions or into

the profession. And we
are exposed to stressful

events on a day-to-day basis.
So, you might have a day where

really nothing out of the
ordinary occurs, or you may have

a day where things are just
coming at you one after another.

So, we know that stress
goes with the job.

I mean, that's a given. And
I think that there's been a

belief over the years that to
acknowledge it means that your

staff are not strong, they're
weak, that there are issues

within our culture, but I think
what we really need to do is

that we've got to address
those issues.

We have to acknowledge the
fact that stress does occur.

We need to prepare our staff
and support them when those

incidents happen. And
we really need to think

about building into our policy
and practices into our training

programs, we need to acknowledge
this issue, and we really need

to work towards building
resiliency with our staff.

Bret: That's well said. So, what are
some of the occupational stressors

associated with corrections?

Maureen: Well, you'll see
on the... there's a graphic,

the word cloud. You see all
these terms on the cloud, corrections

stress, compassion, fatigue, vicarious
trauma, burnout, which is a term

we hear about a lot. So, I
think what's less important

is to know exactly the current...
the exact definitions

of each of the terms, but I
think it's important to know

that we'll hear this
terminology, that these things

do occur in our day-to-day
work within the profession.

I know that when I was coming up in
corrections the term I would

hear most often was "burnout." And
we now know with the research

that is emerging that this topic
is much more than burnout, and

you'll hear from presenters as
we proceed this morning that

will give you a bit more
information about that.

Bret: All right.
That's a good explanation.

Maureen: But, I think,
you know, just let me jump

in here one second. I also want
to say that as we talk

about the various stresses
within doing this work, we'll

be looking at three various categories. So,
we will be looking at

operational stressors,
organizational stressors, and

we'll also be looking
at traumatic stressors.

Bret: Yeah, those are
on the screen. So

then, what are
operational stressors?

Maureen: Well, I think some
examples of that are... well,

I'll use community
corrections as an example.

I mean, we've got probation officers out
there that have case loads of

300 people. I mean, how
can you adequately

address the issues when you
have that size of a case load?

Within institutions, shift work.
So, oftentimes, there's shift

bidding, but oftentimes because
of vacancies and various issues

staff have to work shifts that
perhaps they're not accustomed

to or not as
comfortable for them. And, you know,

it can impact sleep patterns.
It can impact family life.

So, that creates a set of stressors.
Vacancies... this is a business

that we have a lot of vacancies
and are often very

difficult to fill and if you
have staff vacancies,

what naturally that leads
to, obviously, are persistent

overtime. So overtime
can be a perk in

this business, but it also can
be a stressor, particularly if

you are working, you know, back-to-back
eight-hour, 12-hour shifts.

Again, that can take
its toll on folks.

Equipment... we are not
an organization that is

incredibly
well-funded. So, we

oftentimes will have
equipment that perhaps is not

available to do our jobs or
is not in the best working

condition, so that
creates an issue.

So, I think when we think about
this topic, we often think about

it in terms of it
within institutions.

But, even in a corrections
setting, there are a lot of

challenges. So, I think
about folks on parole

boards who have to make release
decisions and, you know, oftentimes are

just concerned that
something doesn't blow up.

Home visits. I know as
a probation and parole

officer, I often would do visits
late afternoon, in the evening,

sometimes on weekends without
back-up in rural areas, and that

can create some
uncomfortable challenges.

I know that a lot of probation
officers or folks that work in

the field have been
victims of stalking.

I know that I have myself. So
there's a lot of things that we

face out there that really
can create some stress.

I think one of the things we
talk about a lot are when we do

home visits. It's not
uncommon to be charged

by a dog, and, you know, in a more sort of
humorous kind of example, I can

remember as a probation officer
being out doing a home visit

from behind the trailer came
this just group of turkeys, you know, and

it may sound crazy, but they
were pissed, and, you know, so there's a

lot of humorous things that
happen, but there's a lot of

things that are really sort
of unexpected and are hard to

prepare for. If you read
the press, hear, you know, news

reports, you know that there
have been a number of things

that have occurred with
corrections staff that have been

all over the newspapers, and I
think that creates some other

challenges because oftentimes, the
profession gets painted with

a very broadbrush. So, I
think what I would like to

do now is we have a short clip
of an interview with a woman

named Sandy Cathcart, who worked
at the Anne Arundel County

Jail in Maryland and she's
gonna talk about some of the

operational stressors that she
experienced when she was in that role.

Bret: Okay.

[Music]

Sandy: One of the day-to-day
operational issues that causes

stress is a 24-hour
operation of a jail.

There is no shutdown time.
There is no take a break time.

There is no time to regroup and
to move forward with the next

day's work. It's constant. We
have to take orders

from the judges, which
sometimes have to

be carried out right away. We
are running back and forth to

hospitals to pick up inmates
or drop inmates off.

We can't wait on those things.
So some of things are tim-sensitive

and we have to move with it.
When the shifts change, we have

to pass the information from
one shift to the next shift and

sometimes there's a hurry to do
that because the shift that's on

wants to go home so they can
get some rest and the

shift that's coming on is saying,
"Well, what else did you say? What is this?

But, do we need to do that?"
And so, there is a constant

movement in the facility.
It does not stop, and that

nonstop pressure can cause
stress on staff.

[Music]

Bret: So, Maureen, you give a
really good list of operational stressors

and so does, Sandy. So, what are some
of the organizational stressors

that individuals face?

Maureen: I think a reallly good example is
workplace culture.

You know, it's important that you
feel supported in your work,

that you feel supported by your
peers, but oftentimes, we

know there are tensions that
occur in the workplace that can

impact our work. Leadership,
I mean, a lot of us,

you know, we have a very good sense of
what works best for us in terms

of leadership and supervision,
and this is a profession where

leadership changes frequently.
You know, you get a new administration in,

commissioners change,
secretaries change, wardens

change and the leadership
style changes.

So, you may get accustomed to a
particular way of working, but

when you get new leadership in,
it can often just change the

whole environment. We need
to be supported by our

peers, but when there are
interpersonal challenges,

tensions between staff,
that can create issues.

I think a really big thing in
this profession is role clarity,

and I've seen that really as we
have become an organization that

is integrating more research-
based practices, evidence-based

practices, I think that it has
created some... I think it's

professionalized our staff, but
I think it's also created some

challenges in that often staff
will come on board thinking that

this is a role. The role is
primarily safety and security,

but we're also talking with staff about
incorporating things like

motivational interviewing and
evidence-based practice or

talking about trauma-informed
practices in terms of how you interact

with the population. So, I
think sometimes staff

say, "You know, what hat am
I wearing today?

You know, am I supposed to be doing
safety and security?

Am I supposed to be addressing,
interacting with offenders in a

very different way?" So, I
think there can be some

challenges around that. I
think also that this is work

that I mentioned earlier is not
often well understood by the

general public, and there's
a real lack of recognition

internally about how hard this
job is, about how well the

majority of our staff perform.
So, I think oftentimes that

we... that staff don't get
enough credit or recognition for

the really good work they're
doing in a really challenging

environment. So, you know, I think
that's just some of

the issues that we see that are
considered organizational kinds

of challenges. Let's hear
again from Sandy Cathcart.

She'll talk about some of the
experiences that she saw when

she was in Anne Arundel County.

[Music]

Sandy: In my experience, one of the
main administrative culture

issues is that administrators
want things done now, and not

everything is required now, and
so you'll have administrators

telling staff, "I need this ASAP,"
or just not even asking, "What

are you doing right now? Do
you have time to do this?"

And so, that
invisible "Give it to me, now"

attitude is very stressful on
staff. And I've encouraged

staff over the years to tell me
what it is they're doing or ask,

"Are you busy? Can you do this for
me? And can you give it to me

by such and such time?"
It's important for

administrators to tell their staff
when they really need the work

done. Everything is
not an emergency.

[Music]

Maureen: We have another clip
that I want to have folks

take a look at and this clip is
from sheriff Peter Koutoujian out

of the Middlesex County Sherrif's
Department in Massachusetts.

And it's a really interesting program
that they did. They actually

worked with the Office of Justice Program
Diagnostic Center and actually

you'll hear from one of our panelists
who was involved in that study.

What Sherrif Koutoujian did is he
conducted an interviewer

survey with his staff around
some of the stress within their

work and they learned some very
interesting aspects of the work.

So, let me show
you the clip.

[Music]

Sheriff Koutoujian: One of the efforts we
undertook with the diagnostics

center was a survey that we
would pass out to all of our

employees in the Middlesex
Sheriff's office.

The number one issue that they
identified for us was the fact

that communication was lacking,
and I think this is probably not

uncommon for any
paramilitary organization.

But, what we found was, in our
estimation, that it wasn't just

communication from up, down, or
downstream, but it was really

important that we accept
information upstream, as well.

That we understand what's going
on and be more open to accepting

it back upstream. We also
found our EAP program

should probably take a shift.
We had an internal person

running our EAP program. We
got the sense many people

weren't maybe going to be open to
someone on the inside with whom

they worked because they were
afraid of confidentiality issues,

even if they were assured.
We also stepped into greater

appreciation efforts. The
fact is in corrections, many

times so often or too often,
people are hearing when

something is going wrong.
They don't hear when they're

doing something right and it's
really leadership.

It's really good leadership that will
bring the good things back down

to people and say, "Thank
you for doing a good job.

Thank you for heroic effort. And
sometimes, just thank you for

doing a very good job, even if
it's nothing fancy, even if it

was nothing heroic. Just doing
your job very good, every day

and night is really important
because quite honestly, that's

what saves lives.

[Music]

Bret: All right, Brandon.
It looks like, you know, we've

gotten a really good picture some of the
operational and

organizational stressors that
people can face. So, from your

experience, what are some examples of
trautmatic stressors?

Brandon: So, traumatic
stressors are those events that occur

in a correctional setting,
either in institutions, out in the

community or in the field that
are traumatic, that cause that, "Oh, man!

what did I just get myself into?"
And those things

are things such as assaults,
serious assualts, threats of

violence against yourself, against
others, homicides, suicides, sexual

violence. It's those "Oh,
man" moments.

Bret: Yeah. We can see the
graph on the screen for that.

So then, what's the difference
between indirect

and then direct
exposure to trauma?

Brandon: Well, direct exposure are
those events where you're

actually there. You're
living it. You're there.

So, you're the first
responder to a suicide.

Or you're responsible for
assisting in breaking up a

fight. You are
the one that got

assaulted or were threatened
by an inmate or an offender.

So, you're directly involved.
Indirect is when you're hearing

about it at a later time. It could
be examples of at briefing the next day

or a buddy calls you at night, "You're
not going to believe what

happened today," and
describes it to you.

It could be the person that's putting
the reports together.

They're responsible for getting
all the photographs together,

ensuring all the memorandums
are written correctly.

Making sure all of
the documentation is there.

Or out in the field, in
community corrections.

Oftentimes, there's is
indirect exposure.

You know they're reading reports.
They're doing the victim interviews.

You know, they're responding
to, you know, one of their clients

that committed suicide or overdosed
or reading the report at a later date.

So, direct is when you're
directly involved. You're right there.

And indirect is where you're
almost getting the information

secondhand or secondary
to the actual event.

Bret: All right. I think those
are good explanations. Now, we have a

video that's going to give us
some more information about the

effects of indirect and direct
exposure to traumas.

It's called "They Call Me
Fragile." Let's watch that.

[Music]

Bret: And, I thought nothing was wrong
with me, but reality is when you

come home from work and your
shift and your family goes [blows air]

disappears and you're here by
yourself, something is wrong.

Not with them. Something
is wrong with you.

Something is wrong with you.
You know and that's not normal.

It's not cool that
your family all leave.

And even the dog takes
a hike from you.

Anessa: I feel like, you
know, my personal life

has been affected
by this... dramatically.

Bret: You may, you know,
think, "Well, I'm gonna

handle it this week by drinking
a bottle or I'm gonna

handle it this week by blowing
up at dog or I'm gonna kick my dog.

Or I'm gonna kick my family
or, you know, that's how it releases.

Because if you just keep on
piling it and piling on top yourself,

it's going to explode some time.
It's like, you know, a pop bottle that's

shaken up and all that
has to go somewhere. All that pressure has

to go somewhere. And, yes, we
have psychologists and

people to talk to, but in this
field, you know, most guys see if you're

weak if you go talk to somebody.
Most guys say, "Hey, you know, if I

really go talk to somebody, if I really go
to my supervisor and say, hey,

you know what? I don't want to
deal with this today, I don't

want to be part of it today,"
that's why a lot of officers

call in sick. And we have sick
time. It's abuse of sick time.

But, I think the supervisors forget
that some officers and throughout

the day, sometimes you're at a
boiling point where you say, "You know

what? I don't want to deal with it
today. I'm not going to deal

with it today so I'm
going to stay home."

Wesley: So much of the time your
family doesn't understand.

You can tell people what it's
like, and they still don't

understand.

[Music]

Bret: Brandon, you know, it
looks like from the testimony of these

corrections officers that
corrections stress is a real thing.

So, can three types of
stressors kind of occur simultaneously?

Brandon: Oh, most definitely.
You know, a great

example would be currently,
in Oregon, one of the

biggest issues we face
is mandatory overtime.

So, you know, you're working
a shift, you have plans

after work. You know, you're
gonna pick up your kids,

promised you are gonna
take them out for ice cream.

But, here it is, you know. We have a lot of
vacancies, mandatory overtime.

Next thing you know, you're mandated
to work. Not only are you mandated to work,

but you're working for that lieutenant or
captain you don't see eye to eye with.

It's not the best leader, not
the ideal person you want to

work for. Now you know, you know, you add
that home stress.

Now, I have to figure out who is
going to pick up my kids, how am

I going to explain to the
children we'll get ice cream

next time. You know, then next
thing you know there's

a call, suicide in progress.
You're the first responder.

You're there. So, you have
all this going on in

your head already. Now, you
have to put that game

face on and do the best for that
person in distress and do the

right thing. All that
just compounds and adds up.

Bret: All right. Those are great
examples. So, in the workfile that

Maureen kind of showed us before, there's
two terms. It was job

stress and burnout. How
do those affect individuals?

Brandon: Well, you know, burnout is that
exposure over and over. You know, every

day that stress tends to
mount and continues to build. And, oftentimes,

we don't seek help. We don't intervene.
We don't do anything about it.

We just continue
to let it build

and think that, hey,
that's just corrections.

That's what I signed up
for. This is what I do.

And, you know, it leads to your work's
not meaningful anymore.

You know, you let yourself go physically.
You start to noticethat  people put

on a little weight, they look
tired, a little more gray in the

hair, they're not as personable.
You know, start to detach from your

peers. You have
that emotional

exhaustion. So, you
start to change.

What we do is accredit hey, -that's what
corrections will do to you.

You must have been
in the field for ten years now.

Bret: That's a tough thing
to endure, but good examples. Thank you.

So, one of the things we're going to
do now is take a minibreak and

go to an interlude that helps
us understand how to deal with

stress from more of
a humorous format.

So we have a series of vignettes
that we titled, "You Might Work

in Corrections." So,
let's take a look at them.

[Music]

Bret: Yeah, you know, we're laughing
here on the set and we hope that you

are too because humor can work.
So now, in this part of the discussion,

we're going to look at
corrections stress from

both a research lens and then a
practical lens.

So, Caterina, you are going to tell
us more about what the research

says regarding corrections stress.
And then, Brandon, we want

you to tell us more
about the symptoms that

kind of play out from the
corrections' stress from a corrections setting.

so, Caterina, in your research, you
analyze corrections fatigue.

So, what is corrections fatigue?

Caterina: Well, thanks, Bret.
This is a term I coined.

I looked at the effects of
burnout and looked at the

effects of trauma, traumatic
exposure, and I realized that through

my treating corrections
personnel and training them for

several years, that we determined
to capture the effects of both trauma

and burnout as a umbrella term,
a global term simply because

those effects happen
simultaneously sometimes in

close succession. And those
events happen and it's really

hard to separate the effects.
You cannot really say, "Oh, this is

because of traumatic exposure
and this reaction is

because of on organizational
stressors or the operational

stressors. They're really impossible to separate.
So we needed a term that

captures the whole ball of
wax, the whole outcome.

So that's corrections fatigue
and one brief analogy that can

be used is mental fatigue that
materials engineers talk about

even with very strong steel, if
you have it repeatedly stressed,

like trucks driving over a
bridge, the metal weakens over

time. The effects accumulate.
So , corrections fatigue is really

about additive effects, cumulative effects over
time of those operational,

stressors, organizational stressors and
traumatic stressors interacting

and co-occurring sometimes.
And so, it's a term that has to do

with outcomes over those
stressors, and I can see it as success

on the continuum and the term is
supported by research and it is

based on treating and
training. And we see on

the graphic
here that the way to conceptualize it

is it may that occur
from mild signs or no

signs, all the way to very severe signs. And
for one person throughout their

career, they could be at
different places on that

continuum, and so it's not a
clinical term, I would like to

point that out, it's just
descriptive of the global cumalitive

outcome of all -those stressors
impinging on the individual.

Bret: All right. Very good explanation.
Thank you. So, Brandon, how might

corrections fatigue play out
in a corrections setting?

Brandon: Well, the way I kind of
look at it, is, you know, day one, new

employee orientation. You know, you start
off the whole group. They're excited.

You know, I just got a
great job working for the county or the state,

or the federal government.
You know, I've got a good paycheck.

I 've got benefits. I'm going
to have sick leave and vacation

and gonna be able to
provide for my family and do

those things a good career does.
You know, you start off happy. The next thing,

you know, you're in a year to it,
you make it off trial service,

you're excited that, "Hey,
I'm moving on." You start to get

more involved in the field, you
get put on specialty teams, you

bid to work the most difficult
assignments, you know, might be working

special housing, you're exposed
to some more of the stressors,

respond to a few traumatic
events and, you know, you start to show

intermediate signs where you
start to withdraw a little bit.

You know you're not as happy, starting to let
yourself go physically.

Then, you know, that continues on and
the next thing you know you're 20

years in and even more
stressed and more exposure.

The next thing you know you're that
20-year employee that,

"Ahhh, that's just Jim. He has been
in corrections too long.

It's time for
him to retire. It's time to move on.

That's when you are starting to show
the more severe signs.

Bret: That's a good grounded example.
So, Caterina, you know,

let's focus more on the corrections
fatigue model that you

designed, for just a moment.
So, based on your research,

can this model tell us about the impact
of corrections fatigue?

Caterina: Yes, in a nutshell,
the model you see up on

the screen and
also in your

participant guide. At the top
we see the three arrows, the

operational stressors,
organizational stressors and

traumatic stressors like raining
down on an individual working in

corrections, impinging upon
them, affecting them. And over

time, their effects add up, the
outcomes add up and they start

showing negative changes that
can also increase over time.

We'll discuss those briefly, like
changes in the personality, how

they tend to behave and act. It
can be changes in the health

and functioning in negative
ways, physical health or

psychological health. Or
even spiritual health.

And it can also be negative changes
in the way of how they think,

their core values,
their beliefs.

They start getting tainted and
become not very functional --

they become counterproductive
and if we have enough individuals in

an organization or an office or
a facility that exhibit those

changes, then the whole culture
takes that color, so to speak.

It becomes that way, and people
tend to behave like that, and

it's seen as the norm, and
people get to accept it like

Brandon said, Oh, this is
corrections for you. This is what

corrections will do for
you. This is the way we are.

It's accepted as normal, and okay, when it really
is unhealthy and

counterproductive or even
destructive in some cases.

Bret: That's a good example.
Sounds like corrections

fatigue can cause a lot of
changes in an individual.

So, Brandon, what have you observed
in the ways of corrections

fatigue or corrections stress
and how the changes have

affected people from
your environment?

Brandon: Well, you know, as we
prepared for this broadcast, and

I got to thinking, you know, I looked back
at the people I started with,

you know, and I can remember when we first
started and we would see each

other around the in the institution,
you know, everything was always, "Hey, how is it

going?" "Oh, life is great! You know, I'm doing
good. Kids are this, kids are that.

You know, I'm going fishing tomorrow." Next
thing you know, it'sk, "Hey, how is it

going?" "It's all right. I'm doing okay."
Before you know it, no response,

just a wave, a nod, you know, no more talk
about how the kids are doing.

I look back and see those people
that I've seen withdraw and

start to let themselves go
physically or get a little bit

more snappy, you know, when you have a
conversation or, you know, they snap back

at somebody. You know, be it an
inmate or co-worker.

So, you can see it. You know,
you see people change.

And, you nkow, like I've said before, I've
always chalked it up to, that's

just corrections, or he must
have had a bad day. Must not be

working somewhere
he likes today.

But, in reality, it's just that change, that
correctional fatigue wearing on

you over the years.

Bret: Yeah, seems like you get this
progressive change over time. So, we're gonna

watch a video from
corrections professionals and

see how they talk about the
effects of corrections stress

over time
on them.

[Music]

Art: That is what professionals
get after years or months or

weeks sometimes of dealing with
people who have very serious

crimes, heinous criminal
behavior, or in some cases, just

dealing with people who
were deathly and dying.

Mack: So, in the community setting, the
focus is different because

the exposure to the trauma is
much more about who you're

working with. Again,
you are working with

perhaps very, very violent
individuals who may have done

really terrible things
to a community.

So, frankly, one of
the risks of that is in order to deal

with it, you kind of dull
your own senses and your own

feelings. Another
risk in a community

setting, again, is just repeated
exposure to victims and what the

victim experiences have been.
Tremendous risks sometimes of

the staff without recognizing
the trauma that they're dealing

with, falling into a
place of hopelessness.

Veronica: We had staff members
who have

gone to homes where
there was a shooting.

They had experienced domestic
violence during their home

visits. They had seen
people overdose on

drugs. So, again,
you just can't say,

"Oh, well, it's in a day's work."

People who get compassion
fatigue and suffer vicarious

traumatizations aren't your bad
people, aren't your people that --

they don't care. These people care. That's
the biggest difference.

They care. So, yes, you
want to keep those

people who care.

[Music]

Bret: So, Caterina,
they show real effect, here. So, your

research  describes nine
dimensions of corrections fatigue.

Highlight a couple of those and
tell us what the research says.

Caterina: Yes, we have
nine dimensions and they're

described in the participant
guide, what each one them are,

and all the way from behavioral
functioning to staff

supportiveness, and I'll
just pick a couple.

They're all important
and very relevant.

None of them is more
important than another.

And so, we have, let's say,
morale, which a lot of people

talk about morale and I remember
somebody saying to me, "Oh,

well. It's nonexistent in our facility."
That's a pretty negative

appraisal. And let's
say morale is about

optimism about the future, it's
about satisfaction with life,

it's about pride in one's work,
about positive mood. And then, correctional

fatigue sets in and keeps progressing,
picking up speed downhill,

people don't take pride
in their work anymore.

They feel very
dissatisfied with their lives.

They lose their optimism
and hope about the future.

Their mood is down.
Another one is outlook or

disposition and that has
to do with a person's,

like we have
negative thinking in the case of

corrections fatigue. We have
different degrees of people

feeling emotional disconnected
from loved ones, having

difficulty feeling or expressing
compassion, having difficulty

with distressing memories.
They're bothered by distressing

memories of events,
what happened at work.

They feel compelled to
take a mental health day.

They just try to block out thoughts
of work while they're away from

work and there's a general sense
of stress and negative world

view, like all other
people are all bad.

Bret: Good example. So, Brandon,
considering that list of the

nine dimensions, how do you know
when these things are occurring

in your workplace? And
then what do you do about them?

Brandon: Well, you know, I think the
three that really stand

out to me are morale, outlook disposition and
staff reliability.

I mean, I think you notice that
by just paying attention to the

workforce and going out there
and having conversations.

You know, instead of making excuses for
how we're acting, we need to

find solutions. We have
to find interventions,

and not just wait for the
traumatic stressors to kick in.

But, pay attention
to the orginizational and operational

stressors, as well, and
start making a difference.

So, I think the main thing is
getting out and communicating

and having a feel
of the institution or the

field when you're out there and
getting to know your employees

and talking with them.

Bret: Caterina,
you want to add?

Caterina: The one thing I
wanted to add is that

there's a snowball effect
with those issues. As

they build up, you can
imagine if somebody has

struggles with low morale or
very negative outlook and disposition. They create

sometimes problems for
themselves and they may have a

run-in with a supervisor, they
get written up for an incident,

they get a bad
evaluation or hurt.

And that compounds their
stress and adds to it

and also people around them, working
around them. If someone has an

issue with low morale it becomes
contagious and affects the

folks around them, the co-workers. So the
effects, outcomes of

course, fatigue, can then become causes,
sources of more fatigue and it

keeps snowballing. Like when people
call the vicious cycle.

It keeps adding up. That's
why we need to intervene

and stop, prevent, counter as
early as we can before things

build up and permeate the
whole workplace culture.

And affect
everybody.

Bret: I think snowball is a good word.
So, Brandon, on the screen we have

this graphic of two buckets.
One is being filled up by a

spigot that is just rushing out
water and filling up quickly,

and then the other one is more
about indirect trauma and its

effects and how it slowly drips.
Ultimately it fills up the

bucket, as well. When you
see these, how do the

effects of indirect trauma
impact correctional environments

and also what can
we do about these?

Brandon: I think, as you look at those two
graphics, we do very well at

the direct impacts. You
know, we activate our

employee assistance programs and
our interventions that everybody

responded to a suicide. So, we
make sure we get them help, we

get them those three counseling
sessions that are free, let them

talk to peer support. Then
next week, we expect them to

go back to their job and do it
again and we'll intervene again

on those traumatic events.
It's the indirect we're not

doing well at. We're
ignoring that.

We're just letting that
be part of the job.

So, I think what we need to do
is have ongoing programs and

interventions, not just wait for
an event to occur, but have that

ongoing presence, that ongoing
process or intervention as

agencies, that understand
this is going to happen.

No matter how well we think we
are, things are going to happen

and it's going to beat you down.
So, we need to get involved now and

be involved from day one and not
wait until all the signs are there.

Bret: Thank you, Brandon. So, Caterina,
why don't

we pay attention to
the effects of indirect trauma?

Caterina: Well, that's a
very good question, Bret.

I think there has been
a -- across the board not just

in corrections a lack of
understanding of the cumulative

effects of indirect exposure
like the graphic showed, even if

the faucet's barely dripping,
if it drips long enough, it will

fill up a cup, bucket
or whole lake.

So what happens in corrections
is, first of all, there is so much

indirect exposure, and so people -- it
becomes a way of life and becomes

the norm. People accept it. It's
like, "Oh, yeah, I'm gonna

see the pictures, hear the
stories, read those files."

Also, it is a
machismo culture. People don't

want to go to their supervisor and say,
"You know what? I'm really

haunted by this, reading
this story. I keep having

nightmares about this kid" or whatever
it might be

that is bothering them.
And they may reason with

themselves, I wasn't there, it
didn't happen to me, so it shouldn't bother me.

So, when it does bother them,
it's like what is wrong with me,

but they keep it to themselves
because there may be a sense of

shame, like, am I weak?
What's the matter with me?

Then, there is this deluge, of
course, of paperwork and all the

operational stressors, Maureen
was talking about. People have

to keep up with paperwork, and
other assignments they

don't have time to stop and
process and think and digest

what they were just exposed
to. So it keeps adding up and

compounding and
compounding over time.

Bret: Great examples. This is another
opportunity for us to

take a little short minibreak
and, again, watch the vignettes

called "You Might Work
in Corrections If..."

[Music]

Bret: Hopefully, some of
you can identify with some of those

But, so, Caterina, you know,
we talk a lot about these repeated

exposure effects. What might
some of those look like and how do

they affect people?

Caterina: Well, I mean they can build up
the generic stress response.

I mean, tension, anxiety, some
irritability, negativity, and

as they continue to accumulate
and if they are severe enough,

and maybe one severe
incident or it could many little ones

people may start developing more
diagnosable disorders, even like

generalized anxiety, panic
disorder, depressive disorder,

or traumatic stress disorder
due to their exposure to trauma.

Bret: So one extreme end of PTSD, what do
we need to know about

that, Caterina? I'm sorry
what do we need to know abaout that?

Caterina: Well, it's a serious condition
that needs to be addressed.

It cannot be swept
under the rug and

our research shows that a substantial number of
corrections professionals do

have enough symptoms to meet
diagnosable conditions such as

PTSD, and we have a
number of

clusters of symptoms that occur
and they are identified as

intrusive memories, meaning
people are bothered and

distressed when they have
unwanted, unwelcome, involuntary

memories pop up in their mind
maybe while they're driving,

while they're sleeping of an
incident or incidents, avoidance

behaviors like people want
to avoid that distress.

They want to block
out those memories.

So, they may avoid triggers
like external triggers.

They may not drive
down a certain route or

they may not want to go to work,
even putting the uniform on might

become a trigger
They may try to block their own

thinking. So they might
as a result drink

themselves into a stupor every
night so they don't have

nightmares. Another
cluster of symptoms is a

negative world view
and a negative mood.

So, folks may have very negative
views of others and blame others

or themselves about how
something happened, how it was

handled or not handled, may be
down, there may

be this general withdrawal
socially. And then we have the

increased physiological in the
body arousal and reactivity.

And, that's very pronounced.
In our research, we found of the four

clutsters, this fourth one
is the most pronounced one,

where people are
prone to anger outburst, they're

very irritable, they have
difficulty sleeping, they're

really having a hard time
relaxing, always a guard and as

a result, of course, you can imagine
relationships are affected and

they may act recklessly
and overreact to things.

Bret: So, Brandon, in terms
of PTSD symptoms, what have

you seen?

Brandon: Well, I think,
you know, over time, as

I said, preparing
for this, is looking back at

some subordinates, friends,
co-workers and looking at how

they were when they first
started, or if we go to

executive meetings and sit in a
room and start analyzing the

people in that room, of "I remember
when, when that person was fit,"

or "that person was very
jovial, or loved to talk

and now, they're sitting in the
corner, they don't get involved

much. I have seen
it, over time, you start

to change and unfortunately, oftentimes
we ignore it.

We just let it be, you know. Don't
want to really recognize

that it happens. And, you know,
an event that happened

this past year, as we were
preparing for this, that I really

reflect on how sometimes we deal
with it in corrections is a

co-worker that was under a lot
of stress on the job, at home,

drank a lot, everybody knew it,
you know. Couple people tried to

intervene, but continued to
drink. Next thing you know, he

drank himself to
death,you know, and he died.

We all go to the funeral,
but what do we talk about?

At the end of the funeral we're
all going to meet up at the

local bar and have a last
few drinks in his memory.

So, that's what we do.
That's the support we give

and that's not the correct support.
We need to find other ways to

intervene and provide the
support that's going to help us

get better.

Bret: Okay, yeah. So,
it sounds like some of

the common stress
symptoms are not

just emotional outbursts. These folks
are affected in real

ways. So, Caterina, what happens
to the brain when

we experience a threat?

Caterina: Well, the brain is wired to protect our
lives, to preserve our lives.

So, it mobilizes when
it perceives a threat.

Big or small, it mobilizes to counter the
threat and keep us alive.

So, all kinds of chemicals are
released in the brain to

mobilize the whole body and our
thinking process, and multiple

areas are involved, obviously,
and I'll just focus on three

that do get affected also by
posttraumatic stress disorder

and has been shown by
research in the field.

So, three of them are, I'll
start with the right one, the

Amygdala, which is like a sentry
that watches for dangers, scans for the

danger night and day and that's its
job to send out an

alarm when it
perceives a threat.

Another one is the Hippocampus.
Its job is to sort and

categorize incoming information
so it can know what is is what

and the context. And the
third one is the green

part. The Hippocampus is
the blue. The third one

is the green part,
the Prefrontal Cortex,

Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex. Big word
and that part is our logical thinking,

strategizing brain that wants to take in a lot of
information and assess and check things out.

Well, what happens with repeated
exposures to traumatic

situations, the
shortcircuiting happens.

The brain goes into a
megaself-preservation mode.

So, it starts jumping the gun. It
draws conclusions

on very few data, like a profiling
system in our head and

it really quickly decides what
may be a threat and react to it,

and the problem with that can
be is that it draws the wrong

conclusion without checking the
context, additional details and

thinking it through. So, a
person may find themselves

overreacting to a situation that
was benign and not really a

threat and that can
get them in trouble.

Now, if, of course, it is a
threat, it can save their life.

But, if it isn't, due to that
short-cutting procedure,

they are overreacting
to a bunch of things.

That's part of the tension
and inability to relax.

Bret: So, Brandon, have you
seen some of these sort of threat

reactions play out in
your work setting?

Brandon: Oh, definitely. I mean,
I think it really happens.

You know, unfortunately, as administrators,
this is where we need to educate

ourselves and we need to get a
clear understanding of what's going

on. Because, for the most
part, a lot of us

grew up in the field, went
through the ranks, you know, started as a

probation officer or
correctional officer and worked

our way up into
administration and never

really got the understanding
of what's happening to us

because it was
that taboo subject.

We didn't talk about it. We
just said that's part of

being in corrections. So, I
think as administrators, we

need to recognize it first and
get a clear understanding.

And quite frankly, until I got
involved in this and a wellness project in

my agency, I didn't fully understand it.
That was just me. That was

part of the job I did. I think we
need to recognize it

and put a name to it but
also develop programs and

interventions to deal with
it.

Bret: All right. Those are
good examples. So, how

might a corrections organization
struggle following up with

exposure to trauma for folks? What
are some other ways?

Brandon: Well, you know, I
think they struggle because we

don't have anything in place.
You know, oftentimes, our

reaction is, "Suck it up." "Been
there, done that." "You know,

you'll do it better next time. That's
just part of the job."

So, I think we're not really using
the tools or things out there

that can help us to prevent.
The professional intervention.

There are a lot of resources to
help us and we're not really

identifying those. Too
oftentimes, we're just chalking it

up to the job.

Bret: So, we talked a lot
about sick leave being

one of
those issues. So,

Caterina, what does the
data tell us about sick leave for

individuals who are experiencing
corrections stress?

Caterina: In one of our studies, we
asked people to indicate how many

days they took off the last year and we also
were measuring how many met

criteria for PTSD with an
assessment and also moderate to

extreme depression, who fell in that
category and we found, we

broke that down into four categories. One was,
okay, sick leave days

reported per year. If
people had not met criteria

for PTSD and were not in the
depression category, depression

positive, they said, "Hey, we
took eight days this past year."

People who only met criteria
for PTSD took 11 days.

Three more. People who only
met criteria for

depression, one more. Four days more. Twelve
days total they said they took.

And people who met criteria for
PTSD and also in the moderate to

extreme depression category,
they reported a whopper of 17

days. I mean, we
were stunned by that.

Seventeen days. Nine more
days than the people

who had neither condition and
that was a big, big red flag

for us that how functioning is
affected by these conditions and

how, yes, you can discipline
somebody or they get in trouble

for sick leave abuse, but the
root of the issue is not

addressed, and they're not
getting the help they need to

make true changes, and really
getting in better shape to be

showing up at work. So, again,
that points to the fact

that we need to understand, as
Brandon said, what is happening

here, not just look at the final
results, but trying to trace it

back to the cause and
address the cause.

And, hopefully, that will
bring real changes that are

sustainable.

Bret: So, so far, you guys have given great
examples. But we're hearing this variety

of effects of
corrections stress.

So, from a bad attitude, all the way
to an alarming number of days

that people are missing
and taking off.

So, the elephant in the room
seems to be this risk of

suicide. So, Caterina,
what does the data

say about the increased
risk of suicide.

Caterina: You know, there are
mortality data, actual death

data in three studies in
corrections for corrections

officers only. They
don't study other

professionals working
in corrections.

But, those studies consistently
show that the corrections folks,

corrections officers had
an increased risk and of course, rate of suicide.

So, it is a real, real issue
that needs to be addressed.

I believe it's probably outcome.
We have hopelessness due to

severe depression, substance
abuse, maybe to try to cope,

posttraumatic issues and all
these converge and a person

reaches a breaking point that
they feel hopeless, that there's

nothing they can do about their
life anymore, there won't be any

change, and, as a clinician,
I'm very aware of

the fact that in any audience
that are people who are

struggling with emotional pain
and practical difficulties in

their lives. So if
you're out there and you

are hurting and you think
there's no hope and

you think you should exit, I
plead with you, I beg you to not

take that choice, but to get
yourself some help, even

starting right this minute,
calling the National Suicide

ifeline: 800-273-8255, and we'll
give you that resource again later.

800-273-8255. Make
a call and talk to

somebody. Make a call
with your family

physician. Make a
call to the medical

provider. Talk
to a peer supporter.

There are solutions. There
are options we want you

well and we want you here.

Bret: Amen. So, we talked
about a lot of negative effects.

So, are there
positive effects, Caterina?

Caterina: Yeah, the good news
is that sometimes pain

leads to gain,
and we grow, and

it's a matter of choice in some
ways and attitude that how we

choose to look at things and
next segment we'll disus

attitude and choice quite a bit.
But, if people can really grow

from posttraumatic experiences
that broke their hearts, even if

they also have posttraumatic
symptoms at the same time, they

grow in the sense of maybe
greater appreciation of

relationships and social
support, deeper spirituality,

deeper capacity for compassion
for their fellow human beings or

any living creature,
gratitude for being alive,

appreciation of every day. So
their heart kind of,

like breaks, but then can
grow bigger and larger.

Bret: So, Brandon, you know,
we talked somewhat about

resiliency and in your
initiative in Oregon, you do a

lot of work with that. So
give us some -- just real brief

some examples.

Brandon: You know this morning, we
spent a lot of time talking

about stressors, but at the end of the day we're a
resilient workforce.

We come to work every day and
do our job and do it well.

And there are a lot of positives
in corrections, as well.

So, we need to focus on that and
that's what Oregon has recognized.

We're taking on an initiative
of staff wellness.

That rather than just talking about
it or making it something we say

we care about, it's actually
something we care about.

So it's maybe one of our
top initiatives.

We're going to focus on where
we're seeing at now, not for

health benefits, but
where our staff really are.

So, our initiative is making
it about you, the employee.

You can
take it in for real.

Bret: All right. That's
a good approach.

So, we talked about resiliency
and positive effects and so that's

what we're going to expand
on in the next section.

So, at this point, I would like to
offer each of you to give just one

brief key message. So, Maureen,
what's one thing that you would say?

Maureen: I think that stress
is part of the profession, but

we need to have
a willingness to

recognize and address the topic.
We need to do it through

training, through policy and
practices and through

informal and
formal support to staff.

Bret: Good examples. Brandon,
how about you?

Brandon: Just that we need
to remember it's not the big events.

It's not those big
traumatic events.

It's all the little stuff.
It's the day-to-day work.

It's out in the field doing the
interviews, doing the home visits, walking

tiers, doing count. We need to
recognize that and

quit just chalking it
up to that's the field.

We need to do something about
the day-to-day exposures.

Bret:All right. Good message
and, Caterina, one thing.

Caterina: One thing, like Maureen said,
the inevitability of the

correctional stressors
impinging upon staff.

It's a moral imperative and also
good business practice, in my

estimation, given the
sick leave example we gave, that it be

addressed aggressively.
People go after it.

And try to provide
evidence-based practices and

for more research to be done, to
provide effective trainings and

other resources and interventions
to promote resilience, to promote well-being.

Ideally, to prevent things
before they start, like, start at the training

academy with the new hires and
new recruits and go on from

there on a very regular basis
because the wellness and health of the

staff will affect and permeate
everything that occurs in those agencies.