10.6 Chapter Summary
- Numerous careers in the fields of criminal justice, behavioral health, and medicine involve working with and caring for justice-involved people who experience mental disorders.
- The careers discussed in this chapter span several fields and represent the spectrum of educational and experience requirements. There are innumerable ways to be involved in a career that serves the people and systems discussed in this text.
- The work described in this text comes with great potential rewards for dedicated professionals who desire the opportunity to contribute to their communities.
- Careers in the service and helping professions carry risks as well as benefits, including exposure to direct and indirect traumatic experiences, which can give rise to many problems. Maximizing job benefits and building resilience are critical protective strategies for maintaining a satisfying and productive work life.
- Organizations that employ helping professionals must support their workers and create healthy, safe workplaces.
Key Term Definitions
- Burnout: A state of physical, emotional, and/or mental exhaustion where a worker is not experiencing satisfaction and fulfillment from their job.
- Certified alcohol and drug counselor (CADC): State certification for a professional who provides substance use counseling, also known as addiction counseling.
- Compassion fatigue: A state of physical and emotional depletion for a person in a helping profession, where caring for others in significant distress without the opportunity to adequately recover leads to a lack of compassion and empathy.
- Compassion satisfaction: The emotional reward that comes from helping others through work.
- Correctional officer: An officer who has oversight of the prison and jail inmate populations and works to reduce or prevent any security risks.
- Criminal defense attorney: A lawyer who defends people accused of crimes in criminal court, hired privately or by the government as a public defender.
- Depersonalization: The experience of becoming detached, emotionally distant, and losing empathy that is associated with workplace burnout.
- Forensic psychologist: A specialized psychologist who provides services within the legal system, such as completing psychological assessments and offering expert opinions on civil or criminal legal matters.
- Mental health counselor: A professional providing treatment to someone with a mental disorder or related symptoms.
- Probation officer: An officer who supervises people convicted of crimes who are placed on community supervision instead of or after a period of jail incarceration. Probation officers ensure that supervisees adhere to court-imposed conditions of release from custody.
- Prosecutor: A lawyer who represents the government in criminal matters against people accused of crimes.
- Psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP): A nurse practitioner with special training and licensure to provide psychiatric care, including prescribing psychiatric medications (e.g., antipsychotic medications) as part of their patient-care role.
- Psychiatrist: A physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists can specialize as forensic psychiatrists to work in areas connected to the criminal justice system.
- Secondary traumatic stress: A phenomenon that occurs when service providers experience indirect, or secondary, trauma, yet experience symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition associated with direct traumatic experiences.
- Self-care: Deliberate actions and behaviors taken to enhance mindfulness and well-being.
- Social worker: A professional who helps people manage problems in their lives. Work can involve an array of services, from advocacy to counseling to case management.
- Vicarious resilience: The positive and empowering impact of experiencing others’ success in overcoming adversity.
- Vicarious traumatization: When one’s worldview shifts after providing direct care to people who have experienced trauma.
- Victim advocate: A professional who provides direct services to victims of crime, often in community settings as a support person or in the context of court cases to ensure access to victims’ rights, such as notification of hearings.
Discussion Questions
- Are there roles in the criminal justice system or in behavioral health that appeal to you? What aspects of these jobs are appealing, and what concerns might you have about pursuing one of these careers?
- How do the roles that interest you involve interaction with people with mental disorders? Can you think of ways that those interactions may bring satisfaction and present challenges to the engaged professional?
- In your future (or current) career, what measures or actions will you take, or are you taking, to care for your mental health? How might/do these activities make you more effective at your job?
- How can trauma impact police officers? How can/should these issues be addressed?
Knowledge Check
Use these optional questions to check your knowledge after reading this chapter.
Licenses and Attributions for Chapter Summary
“Chapter Summary” by Anne Nichol is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
