U.S. flag
        An official website of the United States government
          Here's how you know
        Here's how you knowDot gov**Official websites use .gov**
              
              A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
        Https**Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
              
              A **lock** (   A locked padlock
 ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.  **
Menu


    close

        
        
                        
  
          Home
      
    
              How NIC can help
      
                
  
          **I need Training or Courses**
               Free e-courses available 24/7
              
      
                
  
          NIC Training Programs
          In-person and blended trainings
      
    
              I need Technical Assistance
          Guidance, support, advice, assessment, and/or customized training
      
    
              I'm looking for Information Assistance
          NIC publications, DVDs, FAQs, and more
      
    
              **I need other assistance from NIC**
              
      
                
  
          NIC Helpdesk
      
    
              Connect with other Corrections Professionals
          NIC Community Forums
      
    
              Funding Opportunities
          Cooperative Agreements and more
      
    
              Resources
      
                
  
          **News and Events**
              
      
                
  
          Conferences
      
    
              NIC Events
      
    
              NIC News & Media Releases
      
    
              Subscribe to NIC's News & Announcements
          Emails with NIC's latest news and initiatives
      
    
              NIC Quarterly Newsletter Archive
      
    
              **Featured Resources**
              
      
                
  
          Resources for Corrections Professionals
          Resources about correctional topics
      
    
              Topics
          Focused areas of research for Corrections Professionals
      
    
              NIC's e-courses
      
    
              Hot Topics
          Answers to questions about NIC services & resources
      
    
              FAQs
          Frequently Asked Questions
      
    
              **NIC Library**
              
      
                
  
          Search the Library Collection
      
    
              Ask a Librarian
      
    
              Free eBooks
      
    
              Sign in to the EBSCOhost Research Platform
          Free research resources provided by NIC
      
    
              Webinars and Broadcasts
          Streaming Video of NIC Trainings
      
    
              US State Statistics
          Statistics Information about US Corrections
      
    
              About NIC
      
                
  
          **About the Agency**
              
      
                
  
          Mission
      
    
              Staff Directory
      
    
              Reports to the Nation
      
    
              Funding Opportunities
      
    
              History of NIC
      
    
              Advisory Board
      
    
              **Divisions**
              
      
                
  
          Academy Division
      
    
              Community Services Division
      
    
              Jails Division
      
    
              Prisons Division
      
    
              **Strategic Plan**
              
      
                
  
          Subscribe to NIC's News & Announcements
          Emails with NIC's latest news and initiativesMy Cart
                                
                          
        
                Log in Home
                                    Resources
                                    Resources By Area of Practice
                                    Topics In Corrections
                                    Wellness For Corrections and Supervision Professionals

      

                    
          
    Wellness for Corrections and Supervision Professionals
Whether working in an institutional or community corrections environment, corrections professionals are faced with a myriad of challenges daily, from the populations we work with, responsibility to peers and leaders, queries from the media and public, and demands from friends and family. While the work can be immensely rewarding, individuals entering this profession should be aware of both the tremendous opportunities that exist as well as the risks.

The successful professional takes his or her work seriously, yet, outside of the workplace should have other aspects to their lives that are healthy outlets, providing balance to the demands of the work. Maintaining the safety and security of our staff, justice involved individuals, and the general public is paramount in this work. Also, within the corrections' mission is the responsibility to provide opportunities for justice involved men and women to reduce their risk to reoffend and ultimately to become productive community members. Managing those dual roles require a great deal of skill and commitment, often at the expense of personal well-being. As a profession, we invest significant resources in offender safety, security and creating opportunities for rehabilitation and habilitation, but pay far less attention and resources to maintaining the health and wellness of staff.

Staff are the professions' most valuable resource. What steps will we take to hire the best, keep our staff well trained and prepared to carry out their responsibilities? How can we ensure they go home safely at the end of the shift, and return each day, motivated to perform at their very best for this important public safety work?

Below you will find a list of topics and additional resources on health and wellness. Find a topic, click, and there will be a number of items of interest.

A special thanks goes to Jefferson County Sheriff's Office for the photograph.

    Resource Links
          Suicide in Corrections
          Hot Topic: Correctional Officer Life Expectancy
          Hot Topic: Do you have information about correctional officer work schedules?
          Hot Topic: What can we do after critical incidents to support staff?
          Hot Topic: Do you have information on officer safety and survival?
          Correctional Officer Safety and Wellness Literature Synthesis
          Crisis, Stress, and Human Resilience: An International Journal
          Exploring the Causes and Consequences of Restrictive Housing in America’s Prisons and Jails (2020)
                   NIC Resources
          Community Supervision Peer Support Program Guidelines
          Community Supervision Staff Trauma and Organizational Stress Needs Assessment
          Community Supervision Operational and Organizational Stress: White Paper
          Price
              $0.00

Promoting Wellness and Resiliency in Correctional Staff [Webinar]

  Amount in Stock
              0
          Price
              $0.00

Corrections Stress: Peaks and Valleys

  Amount in Stock
              0
          New Directions in Corrections: Staff Wellness: NIC's Second Virtual Conference
          Occupational Stressors in Corrections Work Annotated Bibliography
          The Corrections Profession: Maintaining Safety and Sanity, Part 1

The Corrections Profession Maintaining Safety and Sanity Part 1 cover
          The Corrections Profession: Maintaining Safety and Sanity, Part 2

The Corrections Profession Maintaining Safety and Sanity Part 2 cover

Topic Categories and Resources
The following grey bars are accordions that can be expanded to show a list of "top-shelf" resources that have been hand-picked by our library team around this topic. If you would like additional research assistance on this topic, please contact our help desk. They have access to specialized databases and thousands of resources you won't find online. Click on a grey box below to browse resources in that section.
            
      Accordion    Community Supervision
      
      The Mental Health of Community Correctional Officers: Supervising Persons with Serious Mental Illness

            
      
Few studies have investigated factors that contribute to the mental health of probation and parole officers (PPOs). Addressing the needs of supervises with serious mental illness (SMI) can create unique challenges for PPOs, which in turn may increase job-related stress and impact PPOs’ mental health
              Accordion    General
      
      Price
              $0.00

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.
      
  Accession Number
              032605

  Amount in Stock
              0
              Hazmat Suit for the Soul

            
      
Accession Number
              031363

            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
              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
              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
              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
  
      Practical Guide for Implementing a Trauma-Informed Approach (2023)
              Mission Critical: Correctional Employee Health and Wellness (2020)
              Vicarious Trauma
              Prioritizing Wellness for Corrections Officers (2016)
              Correctional Oasis
              Running on Empty: Compassion Fatigue in Health Professionals (2007)
              Prison Officers Need Help, But They Won’t Ask for It (2014)
              The Vicarious Trauma Toolkit (VTT) (2017)
              Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study
  
      Working Behind the Wall: Mental Health of Correctional-Based Staff
              Officer Health and Wellness: Results from the California Correctional Officer Survey (2017)
              Accordion    Programs & Program Effectiveness
      
      Corrections Stress Needs Assessment

            
      
The field of corrections has long been recognized as a high stress profession. Previous research suggests that individuals who work in either institutional settings (i.e., prison, jail, juvenile detention) and/or community corrections (i.e., probation, parole, pretrial services) experience varying
              Improving Correctional Officer Wellness Through a Multifaceted Approach

            
      
"Seven staff fatalities including three suicides in just three years (2010-2012). For professionals who operate correction facilities, stress can be a significant issue with fatal consequences. The Middlesex Sheriff’s Office (MSO) had 45 staff fatalities over the past 30 years. Twenty-four percent
  
      The prevention of trauma reactions in police officers: Decreasing reliance on drugs and alcohol (2013)
              Oregon Department of Corrections’ Wellness & Resiliency Pilot Program (WRP): Contrasting Pre-Post Survey Measures Between WRP and a Comparison Group (2015)
              Accordion    Training Materials
      
      The Corrections Profession: Maintaining Safety and Sanity, Part 1

            
      
This program is the first of a two-part webinar, and covers the physical and emotional challenges faced by correctional personnel. “The dangers correctional staff encounter on the job are well known to their leaders.
      
  Accession Number
              027907
              The Corrections Profession: Maintaining Safety and Sanity, Part 2

            
      
This program is the second of a two-part webinar, and covers the physical and emotional challenges faced by correctional personnel. “The dangers correctional staff encounter on the job are well known to their leaders.
      
  Accession Number
              027908
              Hitting the Wall: Dealing with Stress in Corrections [Lesson Plan and Participant's Manual]

            
      
Issues surrounding stress in a correctional setting, like the effects, sources, and symptoms of stress, burnout, and coping strategies, are covered during this 6.5 hour course. Participants will be able to: define stress and identify the effects of stress; identify the sources of stress; identify
              Accordion    Staff Stress - Effects
      
      Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in United States Corrections Professionals: Prevalence and Impact on Health and Functioning
              The Impact of Prison Conditions on Staff Well-Being (2010)
              The Correctional Staff Burnout Literature (2015)
              Accordion    Staff Stress - Sources
      
      The Mental Health of Community Correctional Officers: Supervising Persons with Serious Mental Illness

            
      
Few studies have investigated factors that contribute to the mental health of probation and parole officers (PPOs). Addressing the needs of supervises with serious mental illness (SMI) can create unique challenges for PPOs, which in turn may increase job-related stress and impact PPOs’ mental health
  
      Exploring the Causes and Consequences of Restrictive Housing in America’s Prisons and Jails (2020)
              New Study: PTSD Symptoms At War-zone Level Among Correctional Staff (2018)
              The Unique Sexual Harassment Problem Female Prison Workers Face (2017)
              Association Between Distributive and Procedural Justice and Life Satisfaction Among Correctional Staff: Research Note (2011)
              Perceived Dangerousness of the Job and WellBeing Among Correctional Officers: The Role of Perceived Stress and Family Supportive Supervisor Behaviors (FSSB) (2013)

Contacts for this content
          Lorie Brisbin
      
  Job Title / Position
              Correctional Program Specialist

Division
              Community Services Division

  Agency / Business / Organization
              National Institute of Corrections

  Phone
              202-514-0099
          NIC Information Center
      
  Job Title / Position
              Information Specialists

Agency / Business / Organization
              National Institute of Corrections

            Contact the NIC Helpdesk

Divisions
          Community Services Division

  Topics
          Corrections stress

  Audiences served by this initiative
          Community Services
          Most Searched
          Jails
          Prisons Return to top

      About NIC

About the Agency
	Divisions
	Staff Directory
	Contact NIC

NIC Services

Training
	Technical Assistance
	Corrections Forums
	Subscribe to NIC News

Resources

Resources by Role
	Resources by Topic
	NIC News
	NIC Events
  
      Agency logo
              
                              National Institute of Corrections
        
                  NIC Legal Policies and DisclaimersNIC Privacy Policy and DisclaimersPlain Language PolicyAccessibility PolicyDOJ Links:Justice.govOpen GovernmentLegal Policies and DisclaimersInformation QualityPrivacy PolicySmall BusinessOffice of the Inspector GeneralBudget and PerformanceFOIANo FEAR Act DataVulnerability Disclosure PolicyVote.govHave a question about government services? Contact USA.govFollow NIC on X
the National institute of corrections governmental seal