Correctional Officer Training: Opportunities and Challenges of the AMstregnth Program in Canada

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite a voluminous literature recognizing the challenges and stresses facing correctional officers, few programs exist to preventatively help correctional officers with their mental health, and of the existing programs few are designed specifically for correctional officers or have any evidence-based data available that speaks to their effectiveness. In the current study, we start to fill this gap in knowledge by providing feedback on a pre-employment mental health training program designed for correctional officers, Advanced Mental Strength and Conditioning (AMStrength) offered to recruits in the Correctional Service of Canada. We draw on interviews with 49 recruits to understand their experience of the program, the skills learned, and their application of the skills learned to shed light on the programming needs of recruits as they prepare for correctional work. Findings show general themes: that recruits are (i) largely positive about the AMStrength training and the skills taught, but also (ii) resistant to personalizing the training evidenced in a description of the training as useful for others but not themselves. Policy and training implications are discussed.