Richard Forbus, MBA-HCM, CCHP-A, CO Captain (Ret.), Vice President of Program Development
Correctional mental health care is not only a clinical issue, but also an operational issue, a safety issue, a staffing issue, and a leadership issue. In my travels across the country, most facilities have experienced an increase in mental health patients. The need for mental health training is one of the most prevalent topics I hear about in my discussions with staff.
That is why the 2026 Correctional Mental Health Care Conference, July 18-20 in Austin, is highly valuable for correctional administrators, supervisors, custody leaders, and frontline staff. The event focuses on some of the most pressing challenges in corrections today: suicide prevention, serious mental illness, crisis intervention, restrictive housing, substance use disorders, legal risk, documentation, staff burnout, collaborative care, and more. Here’s why folks in corrections should attend:
1. Improve facility safety through better crisis response
Officers working in housing units and intake areas constantly interact with those in our custody, and we tend to be the first to see changes in behavior, signs of distress, or escalating risk. Leaders are responsible for making sure staff have the training, tools, and support to recognize these issues and respond effectively. Conference sessions on crisis intervention offer practical strategies that are effective and enhance safety.
2. Strengthen suicide prevention across custody and health care
Suicide prevention depends on communication, observation, documentation, and timely intervention. For officers, ongoing education in suicide prevention principles provides them with awareness of warning signs and the appropriate response to intervene. Administrators can gain awareness of best practices that enhance safety for persons in custody and staff.
3. Give supervisors tools to support frontline staff
Correctional officers manage difficult behavior, trauma exposure, critical incidents, and high-pressure interactions every day. The conference agenda includes staff-wellness related topics, such as “Mental Health Workforce Burnout: Risks and Remedies,” offering leaders and supervisors practical ideas to support staff well-being and performance.
4. Reduce legal and operational risk
Mental health-related incidents can create serious liability when policies, practices, documentation, communication, or follow-up break down. Conference sessions address legal risk, ethical documentation, involuntary treatment, impacts of restrictive housing, and other complex issues of significance to administrators and line staff. A better understanding of these issues can help facilitate defensible practices and reduce liability.
5. Improve communication between custody and clinical teams
Effective mental health care requires strong collaboration between custody and health care staff. Officers bring essential information about daily behavior, housing-unit dynamics, rule compliance, and safety concerns. Clinicians bring assessment and treatment expertise in the correctional environment. Leaders set expectations to make collaboration a part of everyday culture. Attending together can help teams build a shared language and return with practical improvements to strengthen collaboration.
6. Support better decisions about housing, supervision, and behavior management
Mental illness, trauma, substance use, and behavioral health needs affect classification, housing, supervision, and disciplinary decisions. Sessions on restrictive housing, therapeutic diversion, youth high-acuity needs, feigned mental illness, and behavior management can help leaders and officers better understand what behavior may indicate—and how systems can respond appropriately.
7. Bring back training that has immediate operational value
The conference is not only for mental health professionals. It includes sessions relevant to custody operations, staff response, communication, crisis intervention, substance use, self-harm, and safety planning. Administrators and supervisors can use what they learn to inform policy and practice, training, supervisor briefings, multidisciplinary meetings, and quality improvement efforts.
8. Invest in leadership, culture, and retention
Sending correctional officers and supervisors to a national conference that communicates their role in mental health care matters. It supports professional development, reinforces the value of custody-clinical partnership, and helps build a culture in which safety, security, collaboration, and well-being are shared responsibilities.
The Correctional Mental Health Care Conference brings together people who understand the realities of this work. For leadership, it offers ideas to strengthen systems, reduce risk, and support staff. For line staff, it offers practical tools to improve safety, communication, and confidence in their skills to do their job effectively.
Learn more and register today!
