Balancing the Roles of Care, Custody, and Control: The Challenges of a Mental Health Professional Working with Incarcerated o

Course overview

Working within the correctional setting or with parolees can provide additional challenges to the mental health professional. Care is our primary focus, but additionally the responsibilities of custody and control become important aspects of our work (Houser et al., 2019). Within the correctional setting as well as working in the outpatient setting with parolees, mental health professionals now need to incorporate considerations of legal restrictions placed on the individual to support their mental health treatment (Houser et al., 2019; Lurigio, 2001; Matejkowski & Ostermann, 2015; Ostermann & Matejkowski, 2014). Understanding and being able to apply custody and control to our work with the clients in these settings is important and doing so without sacrificing the necessary therapeutic alliance essential (Gayman et al., 2018, Owens et al., 2011, Stringer, 2019). This webinar will provide an overview of the three main responsibilities of mental health professionals working with inmates or paroles: Care, Custody, and Control, while proving practical suggestions on how to incorporate these into our practice all while supporting the recovery of mental health.