ISSUES AND PRACTICES.pdf - The Counseling Team International

Staff turnover is also high in many facilities. The average turnover in prisons nationwide in 1986was nearly 12 percent, but in some States-such as Arizona, South Carolina, and South Dakotatherate was more than 25 percent.[6] Stress has been implicated as an important cause ofdisability retirements.[7] The cost of stress-related disabilities among officers exceeded $40million in California in 1985 alone.[8] Administrators lose money recruiting, hiring, training, andorienting new staff to replace personnel who quit because of stress-related disability. A stressprogram can reduce turnover.After inmates killed a civilian employee, 17 officers took disability leave. Seven never returned.Of the five who went for individual counseling, four returned. [The one who did not was theofficer who found the body.] The officers who returned told me that the counseling helped themto come back.--Cathy Carlson, Safety Office return-to-work coordinator, California Youth AuthorityOf the eight officers I have treated, two would not have returned to work without counseling.One, who had witnessed an inmate suicide, began counseling by saying he could never go backbecause he felt guilty that he had let down his fellow officers, but he did return and was fine.--Stevens Huggins, a psychologist who treats Multnomah County Sheriff's Department officersTurnover can also increase retirement benefit costs to the department. In the early 1980s, DeputyChief James Nunn of the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department was in charge of internal affairsand a member of the county retirement board. After critical incidents, he would see officers'names on the retirement list, each one costing $750,000 to $1 million in unfunded liability to theretirement fund. Then the department contracted with The Counseling Team to provide stressservices.Later, we compared the number of stress-related retirements officers and deputies took aftercritical incidents for a 10-year period before the contract and found they cost the county $20million. Six years after the program was in place, there were none. We estimated that theprogram saved the department $13 million by avoiding increases in its unfunded liability to thecounty retirement system. [See the full explanation in chapter 7.]--James Nunn, deputy chief, San Bernardino Sheriff's DepartmentImproved officer work performanceAccording to Multnomah County (Oregon) Sheriff Dan Noelle, "It's not just a money issue; the[stress] program can improve how the organization functions: It makes us a can-doorganization." A stress program can improve performance by improving morale.Morale is important--working in prisons is a high-stress job. By its nature, the work is oftenunpleasant; we often operate short of staff; and it is very hot during the summer. People are moreproductive, I believe, if their morale is high. We may also have less sick time and less attrition ifemployees feel loyalty to the department. It is important that the staff know that the departmentcares about their well being.--Gary Johnson, director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice Institutional Division