Who wins games, defense or offense? If it is defense, why does the coach get fired after too many games with too few points? If it is offense, why do players lose their positions if they can’t do their jobs defensively? I can tell you what ESPN talking heads might say… but let’s face it, every member is crucial in the team’s success.

Departments in community corrections also need to be able to operate as a team and share information. I’ve compared our residential community corrections team at Time to Change to a football team in trainings. You have your defense (security), your offense (case managers) and your coaches (management). You need all parts of the team to get to the end goal of successful client reintegration.

The Previously Tedious Incident Report

Take incident reports (IRs) for example. Accountability and structure is a big part of creating change. We all have rules to follow and we do better when we know the consequences, good or bad, of our behavior. Before we had a fully integrated case management software system, our IR tracking system at Time to Change was… just awful.

1. Labeling client’s based on their offense (aka: sex offender, murderer) could inadvertently reinforce the behaviors we don’t want to see from them. Referring to clients as people first (not just to their face but also when discussing them with colleagues, community members, etc.) is a better approach with more chances of true rehabilitation for both them and the community. We have always called our clients, clients, instead of offenders for this reason. We’ve learned the labeling of a client as a “sex offender” can have unintended impact.

Reporting Nightmares No More

"You want to report on all that hard work you do with your client, right?" Words our unsung hero, the case manager, loathes hearing. Of course we know reports are important. Of course we know that done correctly, reports are vital to our clients’ progress and our success as case managers. But it’s hard to be convinced that we should take joy in completing intake, monthly or termination reports.

Reporting on a client’s progress (or lack thereof) is very important, yet community corrections case managers continually struggle with keeping up with paperwork type responsibilities, deadlines and having enough time to meet with clients in a quality fashion.

Even the best case managers aren’t able to spend the time they should with their clients because they must also keep up with compliance and paperwork requirements. You know what it is like to have to locate everything you, and others, have already done and put it into a report… every time a client intakes... every month… every incident… all of the treatment… all of the drug test outcomes… and of course every time a client terminates… and usually all of the above.

Having the Right Ingredients

Baking soda or baking powder? Make sure you check your recipe card before you go dumping in the wrong one. My husband was so kind to make me his first batch of chocolate chip cookies one evening… while I was pregnant and it was urgent that I had some. Let’s just say, he used the wrong one and even though they didn’t taste quite right, I still ate several. What does this have to do with community based corrections you ask?

It’s also important to have all of your key ingredients when completing a case plan with your client. Almost universally in the community based corrections world, there is a risk assessment used to help case managers assess the top criminogenic (crime creating) needs. Setting goals in your case plan to address these high-risk areas increases the chance of reducing this risk. Criminogenic needs and goals are usually required ingredients in a case plan.

The unsung hero: the community corrections employee.