10 Essential Principles of Real-World Implementation Leadership

In a time where fear, worry and forced change is at an all-time high, this training could be exceptionally useful for community corrections leaders across the nation. I have been wanting to share this for some time and absolutely loved the 10 Essential Principles of Real-World Implementation Leadership when I attended a short webinar virtually (and this was before COVID-19).   As a prior administrator at a residential community corrections agency, I know this training could help leaders in an ever changing industry.

Read More

Topics: Community Corrections, Evidence Based Practices, Community Corrections Professional, reentry, EBP, Justice-Involved Clients, Implementation, BOP, halfway house, Leadership

We have another article from Dr. Alexandra Walker we would like to share!  We absolutely love this article she wrote and know it is helpful information for all you practitioners out there.

Read More

Topics: Community Corrections Professional, program results, EBP, Criminal Justice Reform, innovation, Fidelity, Reforms, Outcomes, Implementation

Read More

Topics: Assessment, Community Corrections Professional, Addiction, Relapse Prevention, client development, Developing a practice model, coaching community corrections clients, reentry, client needs and values, risk, EBP, Justice-Involved Clients, jic

“I don’t get a candy bar every time I do my job, why should a client get something for doing what they are already supposed to do?”  Have you ever thought or heard something like this when discussing positive reinforcement with clients in community corrections?  When research shows positive reinforcement is more effective in long term behavior change, why is it that we tend to default to punish only?  

In my experience managing clients, managing staff, being a mother, wife, mentor and coach, I can attest that it can be easier to sigh, moan and complain about the performance of others.  Every time I find myself pulling out my hair, I realize I haven’t been using one of my best tools, positive reinforcement.  And guess what, when I start using it (or increase my use of it), I see improvement and I feel happier. It is all too easy to only notice what is going wrong and completely pay no attention to what is going right.

Let me offer some tips for success when implementing a positive reinforcement program in your agency.

Read More

Topics: Community Corrections, Evidence Based Practices, Positive Reinforcement, Community Corrections Professional, client development, reentry, EBP, Justice-Involved Clients

There is an interesting contradiction in the scientific research of justice-involved clients (JICs) as it relates to mental health. First, JICs tend to have a relatively high prevalence of mental health problems. Second, mental health symptoms among JICs are actually weakly related to criminality (i.e., poor predictors of recidivism). Although there are certainly individual cases in which a JIC’s mental health symptoms directly influenced their offending behavior, these are infrequent occurrences. For the majority of cases, criminal risk domains (discussed in our previous blogs) and not mental health symptoms drive criminal behavior. This concept is particularly important in terms of intervention.

Read More

Topics: client development, client needs and values, high risk client, EBP