When considering where to start formulating a practice model, I happened upon The Coaching Habit:  Say Less, Ask More and Change the Way You Lead Forever. I love the title. It is so packed full of important concepts; coaching, habits, listening, asking, changing you, leadership and the future. Wow, if that’s the title, imagine all of the ideas covered in this brilliantly simple book by Michael Bungay Stanier. While in the past I’ve questioned the actual importance of coaching vs. the rise of the rhetoric and number of coaching books, after reading this book I am a believer. If you read one book about coaching, make it this one.

Community Corrections is Changing...Are You?

Change is hard.  We expect our clients to change but when faced with change ourselves, we can often resist.  We expect someone who has lived a certain way for 20, 30, 40+ years to make abrupt changes but when we give up sweets and our colleague brings donuts in, we gobble them down and vow that was the last time.  We get a speeding ticket and vow to not speed anymore but once the initial sting has worn off, we look down and notice we are going 40 in a 30 and didn’t even realize it.  It’s so much easier for people to change when it’s not us.  It takes a lot of practice, new habits and even failure, to change.  Sure, there is a valid difference, if an offender doesn’t change criminal behavior, there are serious consequences to their freedom, not just to their waistline or pocket book.  But if those consequences were all it took; community corrections might not exist.

Community Corrections is changing. The change has been in the works ever since the early “what works” and “EBP” research pointed us to new approaches.  What is different now is the change is hitting closer to home to the daily routines, decision making and programming.  We know this through our conversations with practitioners all around the country and many in some of the most progressive states in community corrections, who are looking for support in meeting new and existing requirements from oversight agencies.  While many in the field are excited about the changes, others are left feeling anxious, frustrated and resistant to change.  Just like many of our clients feel upon entering a program.  While it is easier not to change our own practices, we must continue to try new approaches and work to improve long term results.  It doesn’t mean we don’t hold our clients accountable, it means we expand and adapt our approach and learn we have other tools in our toolbelt.  People, even community correction professionals, must be held accountable to change in ways that move towards improved results.

Spring is when the sunshine returns, the season of renewed hope and second chances. This spring, we want to share with you the story of a man who found hope during the darkest days of his life. His story speaks to the incredible power of faith and love – and to the fact that even when the world seems darkest, there is a next chapter to come.

Mentor, father, veteran. Son of a strong loving mother, youth basketball star and Nebraska State High School Powerlifting Champion. Bobby Smith has embodied many roles in his life and now, as a Mentor Coordinator for Total Action for Progress (TAP) in Roanoke, VA, he says the one that most defines him is ‘encourager of others’. But it is only in the past few years that Bobby has been free to share his gift of encouragement with the world. That’s because for twenty-two years prior, Bobby wasn’t free – he was serving time as a Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate.

Brad Bogue has a well-deserved reputation as a dynamic thinker and groundbreaking researcher in community corrections.  So when Brad turned his thoughts to the question of what makes a high-quality risk assessment interview, we were all ears and we bet you will be too.  Risk Assessments are a big part of setting the right path for our clients and working towards community safety. We at CorrectTech support this through our Assessment module.  Because your assessments are scored and part of every client’s electronic record, we create more time for practitioners to conduct the interview, interpret the results and create a risk reducing case plan using evidence-based practices.  We love that we support community corrections practitioners in having fewer scoring errors and less time focused on calculations – helping you focus on what matters most.

Fun with Data Management…. Really?

How many of you community corrections practitioners dread pulling together month end, quarter end or worse…year end program results? 

So, you are wondering why I would include “fun” in the same sentence as data management.  What’s more surprising is it’s me who is having fun with data management.  I am not a big data person.  Research, spreadsheets, data analysis, not my cup of tea. Include me in on a problem solving, “what works” or implementation discussion and I’ll let someone else do all the research. 

However, you’d be surprised how much better data can be when you don’t have to do any data entry to view basic and complex data analysis for your community corrections program operations.  

Check out an example of just one way we make data fun in our newest data management video “Fun with Data Management - Monitor History”.