Correctional professionals do not serve alone. Behind most staff members are families that also experience the stress, sacrifices, and demands of correctional work. In 2024, Desert Waters proposed establishing a National Correctional Family Appreciation Week during the first week of June, designed to parallel and complement Correctional Officer and Employee Appreciation Week in May.

This week provides administrators with an important opportunity to intentionally recognize, support, and honor the families of correctional professionals—families whose strength, sacrifice, and encouragement often play a critical role in sustaining employee wellness, resilience, morale, and retention.

Consider the following reminders and action steps:

  • Recognize and honor the families who stand behind correctional professionals by intentionally acknowledging their sacrifices, support, and contributions to the profession.
    • Remember that correctional work does not end at the facility doors by encouraging conversations, policies, and practices that recognize the impact of the profession on the entire family.
    • Acknowledge the challenges correctional families face by providing support, flexibility, and resources that help them navigate shift work, overtime, missed holidays, safety concerns, and the emotional demands of the profession.
    • Strengthen employee wellness and retention by promoting family support as an essential component of resilience, morale, and long-term success in corrections.
    • Honor the quiet strength and unwavering support of correctional families through intentional appreciation efforts and opportunities for inclusion and connection.
    • Affirm that the sacrifices and contributions of correctional families matter by ensuring they are recognized as an important part of the correctional profession.
    • Use this week as an opportunity to reflect on and recognize the broader circle of service—the families who support and sustain those who serve in corrections.
    • Identify and implement meaningful ways to support and honor correctional families through appreciation messages, family-centered events, wellness initiatives, educational resources, and public recognition efforts.
    • Promote a culture in which family wellness is prioritized as a vital part of staff wellness, organizational health, and workforce sustainability.

In corrections, we often say that work goes home. Equally true—but far less acknowledged—is that home goes to work and affects job performance, wellness, and resilience, for better or for worse. In fact, retention may at times hinge on family support of this career choice—or the lack of it.

Recognizing family members and expressing gratitude for their support is the least agencies can do.

When families are acknowledged, informed, and valued, they are often better equipped to sustain and support their loved one through the unique pressures of correctional work.

Establishing a National Correctional Family Appreciation Week would send a powerful message that correctional families matter too.

Check out our two Correctional Family Wellness courses—one designed for adult family members and one for correctional staff.