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 all 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 their rock bottom and quitting. Not all companies or bosses know the internal battles that their employees face and they definitely won’t know until they are made aware (and even then, some still wouldn’t know it if it slapped them across the face). This is why employees need to have the knowledge and tools to be aware of the signs of burning out before they’re already fried.
As anyone who has worked in the role before knows, being a correctional officer is a demanding job that often exposes individuals to high levels of stress and emotional strain. Although the job description may describe the responsibilities that the job entails, it doesn’t explain how the responsibilities can over time become “pressures” that impact an officer’s mental stability. The description doesn’t include 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 this blog, we will explore various self-care practices that can help correctional officers avoid employee burnout that can be practiced in their personal lives as well as during work hours. 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. However, 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 individual person. The Google definition of “self-care” is “the practice of taking action to preserve or improve one’s own health.” One person’s self-care can mean getting a manicure while another person’s is going fishing. Self-care looks different for everyone and doesn’t necessarily have to take place in the comfort of your own home. There are strategies to take care of oneself even while on shift.
Set Mental Boundaries:
As simple as it sounds, setting clear boundaries is more difficult than it may seem. In order to set boundaries, you need to be assertive and able to be OK with not pleasing everybody. This is especially difficult in a professional setting when trying to fairly navigate a work-life balance. To find a happy medium and maintain strong mental and emotional stability, it’s important to intentionally compartmentalize work-related items apart from personal life-related items. This way you have designated time specifically for actively working and designated time specifically 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 start to 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. Participating in some type of regular exercise helps release the built-up tension that correctional officers carry throughout their day. The rollercoaster ride of steep adrenaline highs and low adrenaline dumps sometimes takes away the energy they 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 is a type of self-care that takes place outside of work hours because correctional officers typically can’t “get ripped” within the walls like inmates strive to do. 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:
Having emotional resilience means being able to respond to stressful or unexpected situations without letting emotions cloud your judgment. When chaos breaks loose inside of 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 any emotions in a chaotic scenario. Not everyone can hold a straight poker face in the midst of 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 to have in corrections, officers also need to be aware of the flip side: not feeling emotion at all. Correctional work can be emotionally draining and officers sometimes find themselves unable to let down their guard. Always needing to be on their toes, correctional officers become numb to always staying on high alert and forgetting that they are allowed to have any emotions.
Developing emotional intelligence is a self-care practice that can take place inside and outside of 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 retract eyebrows from raising or jaw from dropping. If they can’t show emotion, they’ve already won half of the battle. Next, the officer needs to work on the emotional pull they felt from the threat (if they felt one at all) and make a plan on how to not let comments bother them so deeply. It takes emotional intelligence to recognize when something bothers you (regardless if it should or shouldn't) and then be able to react in a way that only you allow yourself to (show true, authentic emotion or keep a poker face).
Lean on Fellow Officers or Peer Support Programs:
Many correctional officers secretly struggle with internal battles that they keep to themselves. Most of which don’t share with others because they feel as if nobody else can relate to the demons they’re facing. Officers who struggle with mental battles 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. There’s nobody who understands the struggle of working in corrections other than correctional officers, making the fellow brothers and sisters who also 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 or 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’re able to relate to your experiences. This is considered self-care because it’s an active measure to better the well-being of oneself, even if it’s a little awkward at first. And for those who don’t feel comfortable confronting a team member yet, most agencies have varying support resources or professional counselors that also understand the unique challenges of the job and offer services to help. Otherwise, if an agency does not have these resources available, Desert Waters Correctional Outreach is a well-renowned organization that offers professional counseling to corrections staff and their families.
Utilize Organizational Support:
While some agencies offer better organizational support than others, all correctional agencies at minimum have policies and practices that are implemented to support employee well-being in hopes of mitigating burnout. Although it seems like staffing levels are still declining and workloads are still rising, agencies are recognizing the need to meet the standards that 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, but 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. The goal of these classes is to help 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 how to perform in their roles. If an officer wants to expand their knowledge on a new hobby or interest, they are practicing a strategy of self-care as they’re making their passion(s) a priority. Not all officers will crave to learn more from the classes provided by the organization (if any), but the few that find support in the resources are better suited to efficiently manage their stress and reduce the potential for burnout.
Another way for officers to practice self-care as well as take advantage of employee benefits is to utilize their PTO. Although the thought of taking off work can sometimes give a nagging feeling of guilt, organizations and fellow team members need to encourage officers to take a break from work by using their vacation time. Some officers will inevitably feel that the amount of time it will take to catch up on missed work wouldn’t be worth taking off the time 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 massively popular need in the corrections industry, agencies are starting to recognize the need of implementing policies that emphasize the importance of taking breaks and provide mechanisms to ensure proper coverage during absences. It goes without being said, but supportive leadership and a positive organizational culture will undoubtedly contribute to mitigating burnout.
Find a Happy Place
Whether it be during PTO or a day off, finding a “happy place” outside of work 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 correctional 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 that you are utilizing some kind of therapeutic outlet.
Just like how everyone’s self-care looks different, everyone’s “happy place” looks different. A “happy place” can be found while spending time alone or with others. For example, some may find their “happy place” to be participating in peer support programs with fellow correctional officers as it allows them to connect with and receive support from colleagues who understand the unique challenges they face. 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 all are forms of “happy places” that one may find comfort and rejuvenation in. 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 feelings of guilt or selfishness are 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.