Understanding & Managing Correctional Setting Stress: Lessening the Impact of Exposure to Violence & Suffering at Work
Those who work in the criminal justice field are exposed to human suffering and may hear about or even witness violence and pain on the job daily. They often support people during painful and overwhelming circumstances. However, they often don’t recognize or have the opportunity to handle their own needs related to hearing about and witnessing these stressful events.
Your daily work experiences may not only be causing emotional stress, but impacting your brain and body, resulting in post-traumatic stress. This training will help understand how stress at work causes responses that can impact your body, mind, emotions, and relationships. It will review common signs of post-traumatic stress that may be due to the unique work environment of the criminal justice system.
At the end of this training, participants will understand how highly stressful work environments cause responses that can impact the body, mind, emotions, and relationships. Attendees will be able to identify common signs of post-traumatic stress that they may not realize are due to the unique corrections work environment.
Unlike many trainings on workplace stress or “self-care”, you will learn concrete techniques to help you manage your stress that go beyond the traditional instruction of “make time to exercise and get plenty of sleep.” We will discuss how to talk to colleagues who may be struggling with traumatic stress symptoms and ways you can best support them. You will gain understanding of signs it may be time for you to reach out for help from a mental health professional who can help you manage the effects of encountering a tremendous amount of suffering while on the job.
This training is for case workers, social workers, mental health professionals, social service providers, case managers, administrators, and those who wants to gain a deeper understanding of how their mind and body react to on-the-job stress and learn actionable steps they can take to manage that stress.
At the end of this training, trainees will have:
- A framework to understand how working in a high-stress corrections environment can influence a correctional officer, both at home and on the job
- Calming techniques to use when experiencing stressful work situations and their aftereffects
- Tips to discuss post-traumatic stress with fellow officers who may be suffering in silence
- Strategies to distinguish when to seek professional help and how to find help that is right for you
Training length: 3 hours
Training type: Interactive, asynchronous
Interactive, asynchronous training cost: $49.99 ON SALE NOW* $25.99 *Use code IJRD50off at checkout for a limited time.
Training completion: Trainees will receive a certificate of completion from the Institute for Justice Research and Development and leave with their own individualized well-being preservation plan.
Need help or have questions? For additional help or to quote a live training for your agency, please contact Amberly Prykhodko at aprykhodko@fsu.edu
Alternative training formats available: Training may be delivered live, either in-person or via webinar. This training is highly interactive and provides attendees with opportunities to practice newly learned skills and critically discuss the information presented.
Trainer: Amberly Prykhodko, LCSW
Amberly Prykhodko is the Director of Clinical and Professional Services where she spearheads the development and implementation of IJRD's professional certifications, specialty trainings, and other offerings designed for practitioners and key stakeholders in both correctional and community serviced. She is also a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with more than 15 years of experience working directly with individuals who have experienced incredibly overwhelming and stressful, or traumatic events, such as homicide and suicide. Her clinical work has focused on helping people manage the aftereffects of trauma including mental health and substance use disorders, homelessness, and criminal justice system contact including incarceration. Prykhodko frequently treats law enforcement officers in her therapy practice and is passionate about providing real tools that can help manage the impact of their frequent exposure to violence and suffering and the aftereffects of this exposure. She has extensive knowledge on the neurobiology of trauma and she has worked with many nationally recognized experts developing and delivering cutting-edge trauma treatments. Additionally, Prykhodko is a seasoned instructor and trainer – she has trained hundreds of practitioners and clinical service providers, non-profit administrators and staff, and correctional stakeholders to recognize trauma symptoms in themselves, their loved ones, and their coworkers.