{"id":5156,"date":"2024-06-06T10:33:59","date_gmt":"2024-06-06T14:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/?p=5156"},"modified":"2024-06-12T09:13:42","modified_gmt":"2024-06-12T13:13:42","slug":"doccs-members-working-to-combat-fatigue-and-mental-health-with-fulfillment-and-wellness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-42-no-5\/doccs-members-working-to-combat-fatigue-and-mental-health-with-fulfillment-and-wellness\/","title":{"rendered":"DOCCS members working to combat fatigue and mental health with fulfillment and wellness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Division236\"June 10, 2024 — <\/em>Vikky Urena and Faith Cochran are both PEF Division 236 DOCCS employees who work in Brooklyn and New Rochelle. Urena is a parole officer and Cochran is a parole revocation specialist. Over the years, both Urena and Cochran have noticed how their work has caused stress and harm, not only to themselves but to their fellow DOCCS coworkers. In 2022, DOCCS worked with Desert Waters Correction Outreach to offer the \u201cImproving the Well Being of Corrections Professionals\u201d (IWCP) course. As part of their participation with a group called One Voice United, Urena and Cochran recognized the benefits of the training and want to see it go further.<\/p>\n

Urena is a parole officer and Cochran is a parole revocation specialist. They are based in Brooklyn and New Rochelle.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the years, both Urena and Cochran have noticed how their work has caused stress and harm, not only to themselves but to their fellow community supervision co-workers. In 2022, DOCCS worked with Desert Waters Correction Outreach to offer the \u201cImproving the Well Being of Corrections Professionals\u201d (IWCP) course. After receiving that training and seeing the help it can bring, Urena and Cochran want the training to go further.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

IWCP is a \u201ctrain-the-trainer\u201d course that taught DOCCS participants how to better themselves while also teaching them how to impart this knowledge to others, who can then train more people.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe training we took was only for corrections staff,\u201d said Urena. \u201cWe see the same issues affecting corrections staff that are also affecting re-entry staff, senior parole officers and others. These are our workers who are working with people who may be repeat offenders, or who may have committed serious crimes.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Urena and Cochran found that members and DOCCS employees, including themselves, have dealt with wrongful suspension, injury in the line of duty, heavy workloads and harassment.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are employees who have lost their lives indirectly from the stress of the job,\u201d Cochran said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The team of two are working with Desert Waters and One Voice United\u2014a non-profit focused on the betterment of the corrections profession\u2014as well as with PEF Article 18 Committee and PEF Health and Safety Department to bring a \u201cFrom Corrections Fatigue to Fulfillment\u201d (CF2F) train-the-trainer course to PEF members. The training will specifically target issues that affect community supervision staff, like parole officers and revocation specialists.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe training will explore the psychological challenges parole officers face as a result of their jobs,\u201d said Cochran. \u201cIt then provides self-care and organizational tools that can be used to combat the stress brought on by the job.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Urena and Cochran have worked together to create a proposal and are working to have their first course ready by the Fall. The course is designed to be a five-day, 40-hour course. Upon completion, participants will receive certification and become trainers or co-facilitators to train more PEF members.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

DOCCS Associate Commissioner James Donahue wrote in support of this training and PEF\u2019s Health and Safety and Article 18 Committee has been working to provide the resources needed to make this training possible. Urena and Cochran both say that what they need most is funding.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDOCCS management signed on to the idea, Geraldine Stella and the Health & Safety staff have been really helpful,\u201d Urena said. \u201cBut we still need funding. We need the Office of Employee Relations (OER) to help.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cochran said that the proposal has been submitted to OER and that it details all the potential expenses that may arise, as well as why they believe the training is necessary and a complete program description.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At a recent DOCCS Statewide Labor Management Conference, Urena spoke highly of this program and caught the attention of DOCCS Commissioner Dan Martuscello. The commissioner said that he would work closely with the (OER) to make sure they get the information needed.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t anticipate any push back,\u201d Cochran said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn my discussions with OER, they were very interested in using joint contractual funds for the program,\u201d said PEF Health & Safety Director Geraldine Stella. \u201cAnd they are working with DOCCS and the Office of Victim Services on processing the application.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Stella, many DOCCS staff, agency directors and supervisors are already interested in the program.\u00a0 The team is optimistic that members will be equally receptive to the training, as DOCCS staff continue to seek ways to cope with the stress of their work.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

June 10, 2024 — Vikky Urena and Faith Cochran are both PEF Division 236 DOCCS employees who work in Brooklyn and New Rochelle. Urena is a parole officer and Cochran…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"division":[],"allowed_regions":[],"allowed_divisions":[],"class_list":["post-5156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","issue-volume-42-no-5"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDOCCS members working to combat fatigue and mental health with fulfillment and wellness - PEF Communicator<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-42-no-5\/doccs-members-working-to-combat-fatigue-and-mental-health-with-fulfillment-and-wellness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DOCCS members working to combat fatigue and mental health with fulfillment and wellness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"June 10, 2024 — Vikky Urena and Faith Cochran are both PEF Division 236 DOCCS employees who work in Brooklyn and New Rochelle. 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