Mental Health for Corrections Professionals

Three years ago, AJA’s leadership debuted our first Fall Summit. The goal was to offer a meeting that focused on a single topic of importance to jails and to provide attendees with practical and actionable information to take back to their agencies. The Fall Summit also distinguishes itself from our annual conference by providing smaller and more interactive workshops, roundtables, and networking activities.

This year, the meeting was held in Charleston, South Carolina, Oct. 3–5, and it was titled Mental Health Summit for Jail Professionals. It will not come as a surprise to anyone that this was a topic that generated a lot of deep and heartfelt conversations. I enjoyed overhearing the conversations in the hallways between the workshops. It was clear that attendees were engaged and getting a lot of great ideas from the material that was being presented and the conversations that ensued.

As an association executive, I am always impressed by the powerful, positive impact an association such as the American Jail Association can have on the field. For those of you who volunteered to present at the Summit, thank you and know that you are making a difference in our nation’s jails. For the attendees who took time away from their busy agencies to elevate their thinking about mental health issues, thank you. You now possess the knowledge to make a difference.

We also offered a Mental Health First Aid for Corrections Professionals certificate program in conjunction with the Summit, and it was very well attended. Because it was so popular, AJA is considering offering the certificate program again at the AJA Conference and Jail Expo in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida from May 18–22.

In 2024, the AJA Fall Summit will be held at the Renaissance Marriot in Palm Springs, California, Oct. 2–4. The focus will be leadership, so mark your calendar now!

CHRIS D. DANIELS, MPA, CAE Executive Director American Jail Association