Court professionals such as probation officers, parole officers, and correction officers are on the front lines dealing with the difficult side of human nature and often struggle with their own self-care. Let this page bring you together.
Often court professionals like probation and parole officers and corrections officers, like first responders, forget about themselves. You cannot help others effectively unless you care for yourself first. Therapy for Probation officers is often overlooked.
Covid 19 has thrown the world into even more chaos. Several years into the Covid pandemic and people are making poor decisions leading them into your hands at high rates. Burnout is very real for you. The more your coworkers leave, the more stressful your job becomes. You feel hopeless, stressed, and unable to do the work you came into the field to do. It is taking a toll on you as you’re starting to be more irritable, your sleep becomes impacted, you don’t want to go to work, you’re fighting with your family more, drinking to relax. The bottom line is you’re burnt out and feel stuck.
You are not alone. You are not weak. You are not a failure.
It is not uncommon for nurses, doctors, and therapists, correction officers, probation officers and parole officers to burnout after working at one agency/company/location for only a couple of years. This was a trend even before Covid, which is a seriously disheartening trend. As helping professionals, we need to rely on our own self-care until (and after) all companies provide a work environment that promotes self-care. PTSD in healthcare workers medical professionals is not uncommon.
Be honest, how well do you do on self-care? You know you “should” be exercising, doing relaxation, self-regulation, etc. You hear it all the time. Do you have the energy to do it? Do you have the attention span? Can you sit and relax after dealing with the chaos at work all day?
Right now you may not be ready for “therapy.” My job right is to help you attain a sense of internal control. If it is too much right now to ask you to do therapy, I will help you find ways to feel calmer, navigate the moral injury you feel, and feel more in control of you. Counseling for medical professionals and others dealing with people on a daily basis is meant to help you feel stronger, not be a chore.
Using solution focused techniques, CBT techniques for depression and anxiety, and EMDR therapy to help with trauma symptoms such as nightmares, feeling helpless, feeling jumpy, inability to relax, having a million racing thoughts and more, I help you maintain your passion of helping others by either heading off burnout or redeeming yourself from burnout depending on your degree of distress.
You dedicate your lives to helping and protecting others, not yourselves. Let this page bring you together
Probation Officers, Parole Officers, Corrections Officers…thank you for your service! You see and feel human suffering every day. Living your calling as a court professional will have an impact on you.
On this page, you will find links to helpful articles, websites and more to learn you are not alone in what you are going through. If you want to schedule an appointment with me, you can contact me here. This page brings all of you professionals together through shared experience and help you feel seen. You will find resources for self-help as well as professional help. This page is constantly being updated, so please bookmark the page and come back regularly.
Many court professionals have been where you are, are currently where you are, or will be where you are. You will get through this. You will survive this and come out stronger for it. Therapy, (or psychotherapy, or counseling) can give you your life back. PTSD in probation officers does not have to define you.
If you are on the fence about therapy, here are the benefits of therapy with me:
- It is confidential and solution-focused.
- You can be seen in the comfort of your own home through HIPAA compliant on-line counseling, which is legal AND ethical.
- You will not be judged as weak or a failure.
- You will regain control of yourself, your mind, your emotions, and your life
If you believe you have no time, remember this: if you don’t take care of it now, it will take care of you later. Sooner or later, the symptoms stemming from PTSD in probation and parole officers will become unbearable and your entire life will be forever affected.
Maybe you are still unsure you are ready to dive into therapy. Maybe you’re not even sure you have PTSD. A safe place many people like to start their therapy journey is by opting in to one or more of my email lists. This email series in particular will help you determine if you may have PTSD and dispel some of the myths from PTSD.
Don’t put off contacting me any longer. I offer counseling for probation officers, parole officers, and corrections officers in-person in Sarasota, Florida as well as on-line counseling across the states of Florida and Connecticut. The initial call is the hardest part and I know you have a ton of strength. Head on over to my Contact page to make the initial contact with me.
PROBATION AND PAROLE OFFICERS:
You don’t see these clients immediately, but they come to your doorstep as well. Probation and parole officers are often out in the community with very difficult clients. You have a huge burden to help keep our community safe and “fix” people so they are no longer a danger to society. This by itself is draining and thankless, but it often comes with a lot of paperwork and unattainable expectations from superiors. Your job is at huge risk for burnout and is a very high turnover job because of this. You are still responsible for these people, despite a pandemic. You must be in the field regularly. You cannot unsee what you see. You cannot unhear what you hear. PTSD and burnout is very common in your field as well.
Links to articles for Probation and Parole Officers
Probation officers are stretched too thin, union head says
Stress Among Probation and Parole Officers and What Can Be Done About It
Coping with Stress: A Challenge of Today’s Probation Officers
CORRECTIONS OFFICERS:
It may seem from the outside like you have a relatively simple job…people are locked up and you just “babysit” them. As you know, this is so far from the truth. You see a lot, deal with a lot, and are more than too frequently potentially putting your life on the line to keep order. You see and hear more than your fair share of potentially traumatic events on a daily basis.
Links to articles for Correction Officers
3 simple ways to battle correctional officer burnout
Stress, the Correctional Officer’s Silent Killer
