DOC Begins Training New Employees on Being Trauma-Informed
May 25, 2022 12:00 AM
On January 21, DOC Chief of Treatment Services Cheryl Horner — assisted by De’Andra Walker from the Division of Treatment Services — trained 170 new cadets at the Training Academy in Elizabethtown in how being trauma-informed improves criminal justice responses. The training is a course through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) Gains Center. This was the first time this training was offered to newly hired Department of Corrections staff.
The training included six objectives:
- Why learn about trauma
- What is trauma
- Trauma’s effects
- Individual differences
- Trauma-informed systems
Offering this course to new cadets is part of the DOC’s mission to become a trauma-informed agency. Becoming trauma-informed can help to avoid retraumatizing individuals and thereby increase safety for all, decrease recidivism and promote and support recovery of justice-involved women and men with serious mental illness.
This training is now an official part of the five-week training program for DOC employees.