The work continues!
Join us on
Thursday, July, 30th, 2026 for our 2nd Corrections Safety and Health in Action CSHA Symposium. Details will be posted below.
Join our quarterly meetings and growing network to advance correctional staff health, safety, and well-being.
If you're not already receiving emails for CSHA events and want to get connected, you can sign up here: https://bit.ly/CSHA-email
Email Lisa Jaegers, lisa.jaegers@health.slu.edu to learn more.
During this series of participatory / collaborative research-to-practice (r2p) symposia in 2025-2027, we will disseminate evidence-informed practices and methods for effective implementation in correctional settings.
We aim to address the significant health challenges that may lead to fatal and non-fatal injuries associated with violence and other critical incidents; trauma, and stress that disproportionately impact a vital public safety work sector: prison and jail staff – including corrections officers, healthcare providers, social workers, case managers, probation and parole officers, chaplains, educators and more.
Each symposium will build on existing knowledge and best practices, enhancing the effectiveness of resources to promote health and advance interventions within correctional workplaces. Iterative capacity building relies on preparatory materials and consultation prior to each symposium.
There are no fees to attend this in-person event, registration is required.
Registration for the CSH Action Symposium is now open.
Hotel and travel information will be posted soon.
Check back for more information on our 2026 CSHA Symposium, https://bit.ly/csh-action
to see details about speakers and engaging activities to be held at the event.
A national community of corrections health professionals, organizations, unions, and researchers will convene at these one-day events.
Who should attend?
Representatives from prison and jail systems.
Activities will include:
1. Identify evidence-based resources presented by leaders in correctional workplace safety, health and wellness to address stress and trauma.
2. Develop a list of existing and projected resources for your prison / jail facility, based on the awareness / availability, usefulness and helpfulness of resources; and consider the barriers/facilitators to the utilization and implementation of workplace safety and health programs.
3. Establish a follow-up plan for ongoing communications with the expanded national network formed through the event and with the National Corrections Collaborative to support your corrections workplace health efforts.
Each annual symposium will include:
a. Organizational needs assessment survey. Follow-up surveys will be directed to programming changes between in-person symposia events.
b. Evaluate quality and effectiveness of corrections workplace safety and health interventions
c. Contribute to a toolkit of correctional safety and health resources for broader dissemination.
Why is this important?
Serious health issues affect this public safety sector workforce, and are exacerbated by violence, trauma, and stress that that are intrinsic to working in corrections. (Jaegers et al., 2022; 2019; Obidoa et al., 2011).
Corrections officers have disproportionate risk of fatality from violence, high rates of non-fatal injuries from assaults, and from direct or observed involvement in violent events, such as injury, homicide and suicide among inmates (Konda, et. al., 2012).
Mental health disorders in COs exceed rates observed in other criminal justice professions and in the general public: 53% of jail officers meet the criteria for PTSD (Jaegers et al. 2019) and 31% meeting criteria for clinical depression (Jaegers et al., 2020; NIJ, 2017).
This in-person program is structured to advance research to practice (r2p) to improve corrections worker health. The symposia program is supported by 15 years of research and practice that us locally based. The plan to establish an ongoing participatory network of key stakeholders and change agents, is based on more than a decade of experience (El Ghaziri et al., 2020) with the National Corrections Collaborative (NCC) and NCC Project Taskforce, a voluntary group of corrections practitioners and professionals. It is also informed by survey work with the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) to identify available approaches that address organizational stress and trauma among corrections workers (CPH-NEW, 2022; El Ghaziri et al., 2020). These NIC-sponsored investigations revealed the scarcity of intervention research to address the mental health needs of corrections workers stress and trauma.
Through NIC's support we are building an inventory of safety and health resources including policies, practices, peer support, and training suitable for addressing worker trauma and organizational stress. We also plan to establish an ongoing group of professionals and practitioners from symposia attendees who will be the agents of national best practices.
Agenda_Draft_CSHA-Symposium_8-24-25.pdfThis Agenda will be updated for the 2026 CSHA Symposium. See the 2025 version as an example of the full day of interactive panels, roundtables, and networking sessions designed to bridge research and real-world strategies for improving correctional staff health, safety, and well-being.
CSHA_Symposium_BIOS_8-24-25.pdfThis list of invited esteemed speakers will be updated for the 2026 event. See the 2025 version as an example of the full listing of our distinguished panelists and presenters.
Professor, Saint Louis University
Associate Professor, UMASS Lowell
Professor of Medicine, UConn Health
Managing Director, National Initiatives, Correctional Leaders Association (CLA)
8th Secretary and Executive Director, American Correctional Association.
2nd Vice President, American Jail Association, Mesa County Sheriff's Office
Prison Education Program, Saint Louis University
Associate Professor, Sacred Heart University
Assistant Professor, Austin Peay State University
Assistant Chief, Jail Administrator, Collin County Sherrif's Dept., TX
Training and Development Manager, Shelby County Division of Corrections, Memphis TN
Executive Director, One Voice United
Staff Psychology Administrator, Washington State Department of Corrections
Correctional Nurse Consultant. Professor Emerita, UCONN
Corrections Wellness Consortium & Missouri Department of Corrections
Facilities Services Administrator, Kansas Department of Corrections
Policy Director, One Voice United
CEO, teamtech
Assistant Division Director, Missouri Department of Corrections
Founder, Executive Director, Desert Waters Correctional Outreach
Wellness Manager, Kansas Department of Corrections
HR Manager, Colorado Department of Corrections
Division of Victim Services, South Carolina Department of Corrections
Trauma Dog, South Carolina Department of Corrections
Co-Host
Jesuit Prison Education Network (JPEN), Regis University
Co-Host
Director of Prison Education, Regis University
Assistant Director of Prison Programming for the Colorado Department of Corrections
Author and Prison Education Program Advisory Board Member, University of Colorado Denver
Graduate of Regis University's Inside/Out Program
Graduate of Regis University's Inside/Out Program
To sign up your prison or jail representative to attend this event or to learn more, contact:
Lisa Jaegers, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA
Professor, Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, Saint Louis University
office 314-977-8572 | email lisa.jaegers@health.slu.edu
This project is made possible by Grant No. U13-LH012639 from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The information is provided by the project team and does not necessarily represent the official position of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
