Total Worker Health Mentoring Toolkit for corrections personnel

Cover of Mentor Toolkit. Black and white image of two corrections officers. Blue border on the top part of the image with the CPH-NEW logo. Bottom white border with the title, "Introduction to Total Worker Health Mentoring Toolkit for the Corrections Workforce"

The Mentor Toolkit

Correctional employees play an essential role in public safety. Their job is physically and mentally demanding and often interspersed with critical incidents that often result in injuries. From 2006 to 2011, the CPH-NEW Health Improvement Through Employee Control (HITEC I) study documented a steady progression of chronic disease risk factors within the first five years of employment, leading to obesity, hypertension, physical inactivity, high levels of depression, and poor sleep and nutritional habits.

The Total Worker Health Mentoring Toolkit was generated as part of the HITEC II (2011-2016) Health Mentoring Project (Namazi, S., et al., 2021). The primary goal of this toolkit is to combat the decline in health found in the beginning of a correctional worker's career.

Correctional organizations can use the materials to organize a TWH Mentoring Program, recruit and train members, and evaluate the program.

Download the Introduction to Total Worker Health Mentoring Toolkit for Correctional Personnel (pdf).

  1. Mentoring Toolkit Step 1 (pdf): Describes the roles and responsibilities of key program participants, considers the decisions necessary for the Steering Committee to be formed and the program to be implemented, and demonstrates the framework for program implementation.
  2. Mentoring Toolkit Step 2 (pdf): Goes into more detail on how to recruit mentors, and train the mentors to help develop confidence, skills, and increased retention of mentees.
  3. Mentoring Toolkit Step 3 (pdf): Describes the relationship mechanics of matching mentees with suitable mentors and explains the effective use of tools to monitor and manage the program in order to have a healthy and robust Total Worker Health Mentoring Program.
  4. Mentoring Toolkit Step 4 (pdf): Provides evaluation instructions and implements to measure the health and success of the program.

Resources:

  1. Namazi, S., Kotejoshyer, R., Farr, D., Henning, R. A., Tubbs, D. C., Dugan, A. G., & Cherniack, M. (2021). Development and Implementation of a Total Worker Health® Mentoring Program in a Correctional Workforce. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(16), 8712.