10.1 Chapter Overview
10.1.1 Learning Objectives
The following learning objectives tell you what’s most important in this chapter. Use these statements as a study guide to make sure you get the most out of this chapter.
- Compare career options in the overlapping areas of criminal justice, mental health, and social work.
- Recognize key signs of burnout and vicarious and/or secondary trauma.
- Demonstrate an increased awareness of mental health issues that professionals working in the behavioral health and criminal justice fields may personally experience.
- Identify healthy activities to enhance emotional well-being and increase career satisfaction.
10.1.2 Key Terms
Look for these important terms in the text in bold. Understanding these terms will help you meet the learning objectives of this chapter. You can find the complete definitions for these terms at the end of the chapter.
- Burnout
- Case management
- Certified drug and alcohol counselor (CADC)
- Compassion fatigue
- Correctional officers
- Counselor
- Forensic psychologist
- Licensed nurse practitioner (LNP)
- Mental health counselor
- Paralegal
- Peer Wellness Specialist (PWS)
- Probation and pretrial officers
- Psychiatrist
- Secondary traumatic stress
- Self-care
- Social worker
- Vicarious trauma
- Victim advocate
Throughout this textbook, we have discussed the overlap between mental disorders and criminal justice. This chapter describes a number of the professional roles that involve the issues and challenges discussed in this textbook. Career options at various levels of education exist in criminal justice, in mental or behavioral health, and in social work. Perhaps one of these roles will inspire you in choosing your career!
Working with people in difficult circumstances, as they often are at the overlap of criminal justice and mental health, can be rewarding and impactful; it also comes with occupational hazards. Exposure to trauma, violent offenses, and victimized people can have significant impact on the responding professional in these fields. Criminal justice professionals, especially, experience a high rate of development of substance use and other mental disorders, and even completed suicide. In this chapter, we will explore the signs of burnout and vicarious trauma that impact people who work in these roles, and highlight the importance of emotional well-being. Wellness is not a one-time event; it is an on-going commitment to a lifestyle shift to ensure that professionals dedicated to helping others maintain healthy boundaries between their personal lives and the services they provide to others.
10.1.3 Licenses and Attributions for Chapter Overview
“Chapter Overview” by Kendra Harding is licensed under CC BY 4.0.