The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation have introduced trauma-informed staff training to promote a healthier workplace, according to the Inside CDCR.
San Quentin’s Chief Medical Executive, Dr. Alison Pachynski related progressive steps that CDCR have undertaken to facilitate opportunities to confront PTSD for their correctional officers, in an interview with SQNews.
“SQ has a resource team of officers on the 4th floor of the medical facility trained by AMEND. Located at University of California San Francisco, AMEND is a public health and human rights program that works in prisons to reduce the debilitating health effects on residents and staff,” said Dr. Pachynski.
Pachynski added, “CDCR has a wellness mobile app which provides a help now button and wellness tool kit available to correctional staff and their families. This module is focused on emotional wellness and wellbeing.”
Trauma-informed training is part of the California Model goals to reduce toxic stress and increase safety and wellness beginning with staff.
“Becoming trauma informed promotes a healthier workplace that starts with our staff. It lays the foundation for a bigger shift in how we operate,” said Briana Rojas, M.D. CDCR’s chief psychologist and the associate director of the Office of Employee Wellness, according to a December 2023 article by Inside CDCR. “… Becoming trauma-informed starts with becoming trauma aware, therefore shifting the culture for everyone working and living in the correctional department, If we acknowledge the trauma, we can try to minimize the trauma.”
Natasha A. Frost, Ph.D., associate professor and associate dean of Northeastern University, has led a National Institute of Justice. NIJ funded research to investigate correctional officer shortand long-term impacts of chronic operational and organizational stress-ors related to exposure to violent and traumatic incidents.
Frost’s research spanned from 2010-2023 the Massachusetts Department of Corrections (MODOC).
At a 2023 NIJ Research Conference, she related that a higher percentage of correctional officers exhibited signs of suicidal, symptoms of PTSD, anger, anxiety, and distress, in comparison, to the low percentage found among new correctional officers from 2020-2023 according to Frost.
The research seeks to identify the compromised mental health to understand precursors to suicide among correctional officers stated Frost.
“Officers fear repercussions at work, for instance in their fitness-for-duty evaluations.,” she said. “They are reluctant to disclose mental health issues and to seek help when they are struggling. This has broader implications for both the workforce and for the incarcerated population,” Frost said.
“Thankfully, some of those conversations have now started, and officer health and wellness is becoming a priority of correction agencies across the country.”
According to Inside CDCR, recognizing that everyone has traumatic experiences is key to introducing a change in healthier interactions with employees, an incarcerated person, and family members.
“These style of courses help us assist our brothers and sisters in all departments in getting rid of the notion that nothing bothers us, said Lt. Mike Santoya regarding staff training around trauma.
“The ‘it is what it is’ mentality is something I notice I have and am slowly removing that thought process…Speaking for myself, this will not be an easy transition but needs to happen,” Santoya said.
Dr. Pachynski recalled an experience when an officer approached her regarding the wellbeing of a resident he had been paying attention to.
“This type of concern and change of culture that is happening here at SQ is the spirit and community that makes this a rehabilitation center,” she concluded.