Corrections_Today_September_October_2019_Vol.81_No.5

W hen there is a personal connection made between people, trust is built, and that trust leads to a willingness to ask for and be receptive to help if needed. In order for this trust to be built and maintained, both parties must be present for each other, not only spending time together but by having open and honest conversations about issues both big and small in order to foster a positive relationship. This approach is not only important for personal relationships, but for work relationships as well. Employees will often confide in one another due to their shared experiences on the job and feel more comfortable having conversations about the stressors and difficulties that they face on a daily basis. In a high-stress environment such as a correctional facility, where staff may be exposed to traumatic events at any moment and often face chronic stress that leads to other mental health issues, it’s important that they have the necessary support to cope with these issues proactively rather than just being reactive. The Prince George’s County Department of Corrections (PGDOC) recognized this and created an Employee Support Unit, adapting a holistic approach to employee health, meeting the needs of the entire individual and not just their work-related functions. Their efforts were recently awarded with the 2019 Achievement Award in Personnel Management, Employment and Training at the National Association of Counties (NACo) Annual Conference in July 2019. Each year, NACo honors innovative, effective county government programs that enhance services for residents. Employee Support Unit PGDOC has had a 30-member Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) peer support team since 2000. CISM is a nationally-recognized, evidence-based model that has been implemented in correctional facilities across the country to provide trauma assistance to staff. This comprehensive, multicomponent program restores and maintains the individual(s) involved in a traumatic event to their usual state of health by alleviating the severe effects of traumatic stress. However, PGDOC noticed that this model is purely reactive, only being used after an event has occurred, and didn’t address a number of issues that staff face. They also noticed that the therapists that are contract- ed through the county’s Employee’s Assistance Program to help correctional staff are often offsite and have no

knowledge of the rigors, demands and trauma associated with working in public safety, which in some cases makes staff uncomfortable sharing and creates a difficult road to treatment. In order to change to a proactive model, in Octo- ber 2016 PGDOC added a full-time mental health clinician, Ainisha Persaud, LCMFT, to develop and implement an Employee Support Unit to expand the resources available to address the mental health and wellness needs of the nearly 500 employees who work at the Prince George’s CISM is a nationally-recognized, evidence-based model that has been implemented in correctional facilities across the country to provide trauma assistance to staff.

Photo courtesy Sgt. Monica Maximay

Some of the Prince George’s County correctional staff showed that they were “DOC Strong” before the Suicide Prevention Walk began last September. They were wearing the Department’s suicide prevention awareness t-shirts.

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