Correction 1 by staff
CARTERVILLE, IL — The Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) held its first “Correctional Wellness for Families” class for adult families of front-line employees in the southern Illinois region.
IDOC’s Staff Wellness Response Team (SWRT) introduced the course to families at seven correctional facilities, and families spent the day at John A. Logan University, where they were joined by Greg Coland of Menard Correctional Center and James Hayes of Correctional Facilities. and explained how the realities of correctional work affect family life. Robinson Correctional Center.
This unique 4-hour course provides adult family members with information about how the realities of correctional work can impact family life and provides guidance on how to deal with scenarios commonly experienced by correctional families. Provide suggestions. The interactive course is designed for adult families of veteran correctional officers and families of new officers.
Course topics include how the correctional work environment affects employees, practical suggestions for adult correctional families to support each other, managing when work stress impacts home life, and how to effectively self-care. The basics were covered.
“I wish ‘Correctional Family Wellness’ existed 23 years ago!” As the wife of someone who has worked in corrections on both the security and non-security sides, this class has helped me work in all areas of IDOC. I believe it is extremely valuable to the families of loved ones,” said a course participant. “This is the first time in 23 years that I feel like we have some kind of workable understanding of the amount of damages that individuals and their families will be responsible for. Also, my experience as the wife of a correctional officer is not necessarily unique. I was relieved that I didn’t. I now knew I had support, access to resources, and was given valuable tools to better support my husband, my children, and myself. ”
IDOC’s SWRT will also begin offering a new six-hour proprietary course, “Correctional Family Health – For Staff,” aimed at new and veteran correctional officers in all areas and functions. This course builds on her current SWRT course and provides staff with an overview of the potential negative effects on families due to lifestyle changes and negative behavior changes that their loved ones working in correctional facilities may experience. I will present it to you. This course also lays out the basics of effective strategies to address these challenges and introduces the basics of positive practices for family care and emotional intimacy.
Extending the power of families into wellness programs is part of IDOC’s continued efforts to develop a departmental culture that emphasizes the importance of self-care and demonstrates wellness among staff.
In 2017, IDOC began planning a program to promote staff wellness. This program later became his team at Staff Wellness Response. His SWRT leadership, which includes line staff from a variety of positions, facilities, backgrounds, and experience levels, reaches out to correctional departments, first responders, law enforcement agencies, and mental health providers in other states to help manage the health of their staff. Learned about the successes and barriers of the initiative. Develop a framework for IDOC. IDOC then created a full-time Staff Wellness Coordinator position to scale this progress into a sustainable and robust staff wellness initiative.
Currently, SWRT has 200 members across IDOC facilities and three staff wellness regional coordinators who care for the mental and emotional needs of staff. This team assists facilities following critical incidents and provides peer support through confidential referrals to the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and AFSCME’s Personal Support Program (PSP).
SWRT is collaborating with current IDOC staff members on “From Correctional Fatigue to Fulfillment,” a 10-hour volunteer course that analyzes the causes and symptoms of correctional fatigue and provides strategies for professional fulfillment and self-care. Offered to all freshman cadet classes. In 2022, SWRT developed and began hosting “All Things You” wellness days at its facilities, featuring training focused on his eight aspects of wellness for all staff. In FY23, SWRT completed over 10,000 peer-to-peer check-ins across the state and installed staff wellness rooms in all IDOC facilities. These rooms provide a private area for staff to relax after a critical incident, along with materials and resources beneficial to mental and emotional health. Last year, SWRT also launched the Staff Wellness podcast for IDOC staff, producing and publishing eight episodes of his staff featuring retirees, frontline staff, and executive staff as guests.
Adult family members of IDOC frontline staff who are interested in attending future classes may form of interest Alternatively, please contact our Staff Health Response Team. doc.staffwellnessresponseteam@illinois.gov.
