My outlook about my career changed after l could do something for myself, my peers, and coworkers on a professional level as well as on a personal level, which I’d been doing for years inadvertently. Now that role that I had been performing unofficially has a title: Staff Wellness Personnel and From Corrections Fatigue to Fulfillment (CF2F) Instructor. After becoming involved with Desert Waters Correctional Outreach, their team, and their material, I felt an immediate sense of meaning, finding a purpose in my career which led to fulfillment in this career that I did not even know I needed.
Fast forward five years and the many CF2F classes which I have been fortunate to present, and learn from myself, I am a face and a name for staff wellness with Corrections. My title is one I take very seriously and am proud to carry. In this position of Staff Wellness Personnel and CF2F Instructor, people trust you, lean on you, and confide in you. This is to be taken seriously and with the utmost confidence. To be able to do this for a long time one has to maintain a healthy balance between confidentiality, professionalism, and openness. When presenting CF2F to a fresh class of new faces, I get the opportunity to meet new people, hear new stories, and live vicariously through their words and experiences. I feel with them, and I have my own experiences to share and provide feedback. We engage in a way the civilian world would wince at—and that’s only the subject matter, not including our reactions or responses to situations. As the PowerPoint continues and we roll through the course, our conversations are ongoing. The class material speaks for itself – I’m just the lucky guy who gets to present it in a way that it gets processed, and the key to that is being GENUINE.
For example, in one instance, a correctional officer was struggling with many aspects of their job, and their bubble was burst. After learning this material delivered with genuine sincerity, their outlook was changed, and they have a new light for their career. The appreciation and gratitude of the attendees proves this course is based on fact and that it works. I’m fortunate to pass it along. The feeling the attendees get from the course is something I also feel while presenting this material to them.
Another course we offer is Correctional Family Wellness:For Adult Family Members (CFW-F), where we present similar material to the family members of correctional employees. This is a platform for me to relay the trials and troubles of operating in an environment as harsh and ugly as ours while adapting to the continual changes of policy, dealing with our individuals, and all that comes with human interactions. I get to be the link for our career-to-family communication. Simply put, we as correctional professionals don’t open too easily to our families, and this is a great opportunity to share with them what our career entails. When conducting the class, I’m in awe at the number of questions received and how interested participants are. Coming from me as an instructor, the material removes a degree of fear and threat our loved ones may be experiencing, and doing that is an absolutely fulfilling opportunity for me. I can’t describe the amount of joy it brings me to be able to inform the families and see the degree of interest they have in this material! WOW, just WOW! I’m so lucky to be able to do this and maybe help save a correctional professional’s career or family! I love what I do!
After class we reflect with one another, and to see the material radiating out of them, hear them talk about it and be open and share is incredibly rewarding. I’m the lucky one—I just gained a friend and connection at another facility, someone I can trust and communicate with when the next “big event” happens.
This role is 100% satisfying, as interacting with my coworkers on this level is something that career dreams are made of. The immense joy I experience from truly helping and sharing knowledge with my extended work family, and maybe saving a career, a marriage, or even a life is immeasurable! This! This right here is why CF2F and Desert Waters Correctional Outreach changed my life for the better by giving deeper meaning to my career. Every day that I get to be involved with staff wellness/CF2F is a day for personal improvement and learning. In my book, that’s a day not worked, but spent with friends and family. They say if you enjoy what you do for a living, you’ll never work a day in your life; and this has been my experience with CF2F and staff wellness. Every day I am living the life—being present, educating, taking care of each other, and moving forward to grow our team. This role does not involve any competition because the goal is for everyone to succeed!
These skills are also applied in the civilian world, with real people struggling, including my friends, family, and strangers who just want to vent and are seeing the world a little foggy. I help clear the mist for them to see what is important, real, and what we can control and what we cannot control. I help them gain awareness of where they are focusing their attention, so they can ask themselves if it is where it needs to be. CF2F is the real deal, it has given me purpose and excitement for the days to come, and the discipline to use the ABCs of self-care taught in the course. I share this with everyone I can. We are all in this together. We get one chance, one life, so why not make it your best? I AM.
