Who's holding the trauma? RE-ACT: increasing prison officer insights and reducing violence in prisons

Abstract

According to Ministry of Justice data, violence in prisons in England and Wales is increasing. It is important to consider the impact that exposure to violent incidents can have on prison officers involved. An exposure which could influence how an individual will respond to future violent incidents. Every relational interaction can be therapeutic, and empowering, or destructive, and lead to a sense of hopelessness. To increase an understanding in prison officers' decision-making when responding to violence, the authors have developed a workshop (named RE-ACT) to increase awareness around decision-making when responding to violence. These psychologically underpinned, trauma-aware reflective workshops explore decision-making during violent incidents and are co-delivered by psychologists and security managers/operational staff. This article will discuss the rationale, development, design, delivery, and evaluation, of the workshops.