ISSUES AND PRACTICES.pdf - The Counseling Team International

(3) Telephone interviews with similar individuals in programs in California, Massachusetts, NewYork, Oregon, and South Carolina.(4) Telephone interviews with selected program staff in a Connecticut and a Florida program.(5) Members of an advisory board assembled to guide and review this publication (see page ii).The jurisdictions studied were selected based on the suggestions of the project's advisory board,an Internet search of large jails conducted by the National Institute of Corrections, andconversations with correctional administrators and experts. The programs represent differentorganizational structures, offer a variety of approaches to providing services, are geographicallydispersed, and serve county jails and large and small State departments of corrections.Benefits a Stress Program Can Bring to Correctional AdministratorsFinancial savings through--Reduced need to pay overtime to cover for officers on sick leave or who quit because ofwork-related stress.Reductions in the time officers need off after a critical incident before returning to work.Reduced fees paid into the retirement fund because of fewer stress-related earlyretirements.Improved officer performance through higher staff morale.Increased institutional safety through--Fewer inexperienced officers on duty.Fewer officer distractions with work-related and personal stresses.Improved relations with the union by working together on a mutually beneficial program.A demonstrated concern for employees through providing officers with the means to cope withan undeniably tough working environment.Stress Programs Also Benefit Midlevel SupervisorsLieutenants and captains benefit from stress programs because they can refer officers to theprogram whom they would otherwise have to discipline and write up. According to RichardGould, a member of the Massachusetts DOC's Stress Unit, "We are a net for captains. 'Dick, youhandle it, if you can, before I deal with it' is how they view us." A lieutenant in the Rhode IslandDepartment of Corrections reported that some supervisors are delighted to tell officers, "Go talkto [Mark] Messier [the peer unit coordinator], or you're going to have a discipline problem." Ifthe referred officers come back as productive workers, the supervisors have been spared a timeconsumingnuisance that can be stressful for them.