Without a doubt, without exception, the correctional profession alters the way we behave outside, out of uniform. Every aspect of our existence, our personal life is affected in one way or another. Our heads, our hearts, and our households will all be impacted to some degree by the experiences we have inside of our facility and our current strategy of minimizing, dismissing, or completely disregarding the reality that our work, our experiences, and the trauma we endure is not only irresponsible, it's unsustainable.
In Trained To Change: The Unfortunate and Unintentional Consequences of the Correctional Curriculum, William Young digs into how the necessary skills and concepts that correctional staff are taught to survive on the inside, can complicate life on the outside.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Has your day-to-day routined changed since becoming a correctional officer?
- Are you comfortable sitting with your back to the door when you're out to eat with the family?
- Have you ever yelled or screamed or exploded on your spouse or your child or your dog for no reason at all?
- Have you ever avoided going to certain places during certain times because you hate large groups of people?
- Have you recently thought to yourself or said aloud, "there are too many people in this world"?
Maybe your answers to those questions made you think, ponder, and reflect a bit. Maybe you have noticed a change in yourself, your behavior, in the way that you engage and interact with friends and family. Maybe you've been looking for, searching, struggling to find an explanation for your excessive anger, for your inappropriate outbursts, for your inability to experience joy and happiness. Maybe you hate people. Maybe you hate yourself.
You're not alone.
So, let's act. Together we have the ability, the power to rescue, to salvage, to save the lives of correctional officers by creating an environment where staff are comfortable to ask for help and are confident that they will find it.
And that starts with you and this book.
That starts with you, the reader, the leader and influencer in your facility to help change our direction, the current trajectory of the correctional profession. You can help us take the first real steps towards institutional change and the way we approach staff wellness. You can help save lives.
You.
Are you ready?
