Corrections_Today_Winter_2024-2025_Vol.86_No.4

Special Sessions and Plenaries

Inaugural “Ask the Doc” plenary examines trauma-informed practices Implementing trauma-informed practices to improve safety and security

Bader, Ph.D., ABPP Senior Project Associate at Policy Research Associates. ACA’s own Dr. Dean Aufderheide presided as the moderator and kicked off the proceeding by asking the panel “What exactly is trauma? And what are trauma-informed practices?” Hughes described it as “Trauma is on a spectrum of stress. It’s way on the end of that spectrum.” Trauma-informed care is “helping people learn new skills and helping them back away from their own behavioral reactions.” Dr. Auferheide showed a video clip of a trau matic event in a facility and asked about the effect this has on correctional staff. Sheriff McFadden described his ways of help ing his staff cope including an open-door policy and requiring staff to talk with professionals to ensure they are equipped to process any situation they encountered. Dr. Watts added “Even if you don’t see your staff struggle, they may be struggling. They may not know how to communicate that.” “What we are doing in this panel is making the invisible visible,” said Dr. Auferheide. Dr. Bader related some statistics about trauma experience among the general popula tion and how those numbers are elevated among both those in facilities and facility staff and then expanded on the theme of trauma-informed care: “Trauma-informed care is not something you do to people, it’s something you are. Establish a culture of safety.” The panel moved on to discussing the preva lence of mental illness in correctional populations

Dr. Dean Aufderheide, ACA’s Director of Mental Health.

E arly risers on Saturday August 18 th who filled Davidson Ballroom B in the Music City Center saw and engrossing “Ask the Doc” Plenary session featuring an all-star cast of experts discussing Trauma-Informed Practices. The panel consisted of Garry L. McFadden Sheriff, Mecklenburg County; Tara Hughes, LCSW-R, Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s National Training and Technical Assistance Center; Dr. John Watts, D.C.J., — Assistant Professor and Program Director of the Criminal Justice and Restorative Justice Program at the University of Saint Joseph; and Shannon

Winter 2024-2025 | Corrections Today

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