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Amber Choate, Oklahoma Department of Corrections’ Community Corrections division.

Sharon Jennings, Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections.

Office. Melissa participated in a water challenge. Mecklenburg County had staff download an app to track their daily water intake for a two-month period. Officer Russell continuously met and ex - ceeded her weekly goals. In the juvenile justice category, the winner was Linda Moore, a personnel services worker from the Gainesville Regional Youth Detention Center within the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice. Moore topped 215 other employees who partici- pated in Georgia DJJ’s 3-month walking challenge. It was Moore’s first time in Phoenix and first time at an ACA Conference. “I was like a child at Disney, there was so much to see and do. There were people from all over the world and I had the privilege to meet several of them,” she said. “The sessions at the conference were very well taught, easy to understand and very interesting. The exhibits were breathtaking, full of vendors and the food at the conference was delicious,” she noted. The winner from community corrections was Amber Choate, a Probation and Parole Officer IV Training Officer within the Oklahoma Department of Corrections’ Community Corrections division. Amber’s department focused on the mental health

component of wellness for their challenge. At the conclusion of staff trainings on emotional and social intelligence, participants completed evalu- ations and the agency was able to conclude the programs improved staff members’ mental health wellness and would help them effectively and ef- ficiently help others in the future. Finally, from the state agencies category, the winner was Sharon Jennings. Sharon is a human resource specialist for the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections. Their agency of- fered activities highlighting all eight dimensions of wellness and decided to focus on physical wellness to start, as it is the dimension most folks would be familiar with. The department knew it was impor- tant to expand staff members’ understanding of the other seven dimensions, so a push up challenge was implemented that also helped promote aware- ness for veteran suicide prevention ACA would also like to congratulate all the agencies that participated in “Meet the Challenge.” Hopefully, these stories will help motivate cor- rectional institutions and agencies moving forward to improve the overall wellness of corrections professionals.

— Kirk Raymond

Corrections Today May/June 2022 — 49