Mitigating Mental Burnout: Self-Care Strategies for Correctional Officers
Since 2020, most industries have undergone record-breaking numbers of turnover. Studies found that the most significant reason behind these sky-high statistics came down to “employee burnout.” While most companies can agree that employee burnout is an authentic experience, the question of who is to blame becomes controversial. As of late, it’s been a social norm to fault burnout on company culture rather than the individual employee.
Although this can be accurate in some scenarios, employees are also responsible for staying aware of signs of mental burnout before hitting rock bottom and quitting. Not all companies or bosses know or recognize the internal battles facing employees and they definitely won’t know until they are made aware. Even then, some still wouldn’t it if it slapped them across the face. Employees need the knowledge and tools to recognize the signs of burning out before they fry.
As anyone who has worked in the role before knows, being a correctional officer is a demanding job that often exposes individuals to high-stress levels and emotional strain. Although the job description may describe its responsibilities, it doesn’t explain how the “pressures” impact an officer’s mental stability. The description also lacks a highlighted line of text emphasizing the importance of correctional officers prioritizing their well-being and staying aware of mental declination signs.
However, it doesn’t make it any less important. Every seasoned correctional officer would tell a brand-new officer that before they get too deep in the weeds of the job, they need to prioritize their well-being and implement effective self-care strategies to be successful in this field. In the recent era of prioritizing self-care (insert sparkle emoji here), the social standard is to automatically associate self-care with turning on your favorite soap opera and wearing a face-cleansing mask.
Unfortunately, this isn’t realistic for everyone, especially for correctional officers who experience layers of emotional trauma every day. Luckily, self-care doesn’t mean one universal thing; it’s unique to every person. The Google definition of “self-care” is “the practice of taking action to preserve or improve one’s health.” One person’s self-care can mean getting a manicure while another is fishing. Self-care looks different for everyone and doesn’t necessarily have to take place in the comfort of your own home, there are even strategies to do while on shift.
Set Mental Boundaries
As simple as it sounds, setting clear boundaries is more difficult than it may seem. To set these boundaries, you must be assertive and OK with not pleasing everybody. This is especially difficult in a professional setting when navigating a work-life balance. To find a happy medium and maintain strong mental and emotional stability, it’s important to compartmentalize work-related items apart from personal life-related items. This way you have designated time specifically for actively working and time for disconnecting from work. Having these two compartments creates a separate headspace where you allow yourself to decompress and unwind.
It takes an intentional, conscious effort to stick to these internal boundaries and mentally separate your thoughts from work-related stressors to focus on other personal items. If you don’t allow yourself the space to separate the two, those stressors can creep in and eat away at your time dedicated to recharging. Having separate spaces allows you the time to do whatever type of self-care you need (and if that means turning on your favorite soap opera and wearing a face mask, then all the more power to you!).
Prioritize Physical Wellness
It’s no secret that good physical health helps build good mental health. The rollercoaster ride of steep adrenaline highs and low adrenaline dumps sometimes takes away the energy correctional officers need to stay vigilant. Engaging in physical activity, either before or after a shift, helps boost endorphins and manages stress, further preventing the early stages of burnout. This self-care practice occurs outside of work hours because correctional officers typically can’t “get ripped” within the walls like inmates strive to do.
It’s critical to remember that doing your rounds is part of your job and does not count as your physical activity session for the day. Aside from being physically fit, maintaining a balanced diet is incorporated into physical wellness. Ensuring proper nutrition and enough hours of sleep supports the energy levels that officers need while working in corrections. So, the next time you feel like chugging Monster energy and snarfing down a bag of Sour Patch Kids for your energy boost, consider swapping for a Gatorade and granola bar.
Develop Emotional Intelligence
Emotional resilience is responding to stressful or unexpected situations without letting emotions cloud your judgment. When chaos breaks loose inside a jail or prison setting, the only things running through officers’ minds need to be logic and safety, NOT emotion. Of course, it’s harder said than done to block out emotions in a chaotic scenario. Not everyone can hold a straight poker face amid a high-stress situation but it’s something that officers need to learn how to excel at so inmates don’t notice their vulnerability.
While keeping emotions in check is an important skill in corrections, officers must be aware of the flip side: not feeling emotion at all. Corrections can be emotionally draining and officers sometimes cannot let down their guard. Always needing to be on their toes, correctional officers become numb to always staying on high alert and forget that they are allowed to have any emotions.
Developing emotional intelligence is a self-care practice that can occur inside and outside working hours. It’s something that an officer can practice on their own while interacting with an inmate. For example, if an inmate threatens an officer to sleep with both eyes open, the officer can make a conscious effort to prevent eyebrows from raising or jaw from dropping. They’ve already won half of the battle if the officer avoids showing an emotional response.
Next, the officer needs to work on the emotional pull they felt from the threat (if they felt one) and make a plan to avoid comments bothering them so deeply. It takes emotional intelligence to recognize when something bothers you (whether it should or not) and then be able to react in a way that only you allow yourself to.
Lean on Fellow Officers or Peer Support Programs
Many correctional officers secretly struggle with internal battles and don’t share with others because they feel as if nobody else can relate to the demons they’re facing. Officers who experience mental health struggles and believe that they are alone in these feelings become blind to the fact that they have an entire army of support, quite literally, behind them. Nobody understands the struggle of working in corrections more than other correctional officers, making the fellow brothers and sisters who protect the line the best place to start.
The phrase “watch each other’s six” is used across all different lines of law enforcement and military service because it symbolizes the loyalty that officers and service members have for each other. But, it also goes deeper than the literal sense of watching each other’s backs. For correctional officers, it means taking care of each other inside and outside the walls.
Leaning on your fellow officers is a type of self-care as it’s an act of going out of your comfort zone to find a mutual understanding with a colleague and gauge whether or not they relate to your experiences. And for those who don’t feel comfortable confronting a team member yet, most agencies have varying support resources or professional counselors who also understand the unique challenges of the job and offer services to help. Otherwise, if an agency lacks these resources, Desert Waters Correctional Outreach is a well-renowned organization that offers corrections staff and their families support.
Utilize Organizational Support
While some agencies offer better organizational support than others, all correctional agencies have policies and practices (at minimum) implemented to support employee well-being to mitigate burnout. Although staffing levels are seemingly declining and workloads are rising, agencies recognize the need to meet the standards they had once set before turnover and mandatory overtime become the “new normal.” This includes providing adequate staffing levels, ensuring fair and manageable workloads, promoting work-life balance, and offering access to employee assistance programs or counseling services.
These are just some of the “basics” of what agencies should be offering their staff, some agencies go the extra mile by also providing comprehensive training or professional development classes. Such classes can focus on anything from stress management and communication skills to conflict resolution and de-escalation techniques. These classes focus on helping correctional officers develop the necessary skills and knowledge to handle their job responsibilities effectively.
Not only do these classes equip officers with the tools to navigate the duties of their job, but they also work two-fold as they help boost officers’ confidence in their roles. However, not all officers will crave to learn more from the classes provided by the organization (if any). The few who find support in the resources are better suited to manage their stress and reduce the potential for burnout efficiently.
Another way for officers to practice self-care while taking advantage of employee benefits is to utilize their PTO. Although taking off work can sometimes give a nagging feeling of guilt, organizations and fellow team members should encourage officers to take a break by using their vacation time. Some officers will inevitably feel that the time it will take to catch up on missed work wouldn’t be worth taking it off in the first place. Sure, there’s a possibility of feeling absent and behind on work. However, those fears do not outweigh the importance of recharging. Adequate rest and time away from work allow officers to rejuvenate and engage in activities that promote well-being.
Prioritizing self-care is not selfish. It’s necessary to perform at your best, which is what your team needs you to do. While mandatory overtime is still a popular need in the corrections industry, agencies are starting to recognize the need to implement policies emphasizing the importance of taking breaks and providing mechanisms to ensure proper coverage during absences. It goes without saying, but supportive leadership and a positive organizational culture will undoubtedly contribute to mitigating burnout.
Find a Happy Place
Finding a “happy place” outside of work during PTO or a day off is a great way to prioritize self-care. Engaging in an activity or hobby that brings you joy outside of working hours provides mental nourishment and a counterbalance to the stressors of corrections work. Finding something that helps you relax and disconnect from work-related stress is a way of taking self-care by the horns and ensuring you utilize a therapeutic outlet. Just like how everyone’s self-care looks different, everyone’s “happy place” looks different.
A “happy place” can be found alone or with others. For example, some may find their “happy place” by participating in peer support programs with fellow correctional officers, allowing them to connect with and receive support from colleagues who understand their unique challenges. Peer support programs provide a confidential and empathetic environment where officers can discuss their experiences, share coping strategies, and receive emotional support. This is a type of self-care that helps alleviate burnout by fostering a sense of camaraderie and solidarity among officers.
However, this can also be achieved without an official support program. Sometimes a “happy place” can look as simple as spending time with loved ones as it simultaneously strengthens relationships and cultivates emotional stability.
For others, a “happy place” can be found by spending time completely alone. It allows space apart from the dozens of people you interact with throughout the day. The best part about recharging alone is that you can do whatever feels good on your own terms. Reading a book, mowing the lawn, walking the dog, and trying a new recipe are all “happy places” to find comfort and rejuvenation. Some may go as far as practicing meditation through deep breathing and mindfulness exercises as it helps refocus and manage stress effectively.
Mitigating burnout requires a comprehensive and multi-faceted approach. The weight doesn’t fall on only the individual nor their organization or agency to glue back the pieces breaking apart. Instead, efforts from both entities will create the best possible outcomes. Correctional agencies can help their officers manage stress and reduce burnout by implementing supportive policies, providing training and resources, and fostering a positive work environment. As for the individual, becoming mindful of the signs of burnout and incorporating coping mechanisms and stress-reducing practices can help prevent burnout and maintain overall well-being. Letting go of guilt or selfishness is necessary to fully experience the break away from work-related stressors to help you perform at your best, which is what your team needs you to do.
Implementing these strategies inside and outside of work enhances resilience and stress management, and creates a perfect balance of incorporating self-care.