Table 4.

Considerations for Community Psychologists Wanting to Volunteer Within Corrections

Community Agency and/or Academic Program
• Internal Capacity – By whom will your program be staffed and/or supervised? How often do you anticipate provider turnover? How will you handle training given your response to the prior questions? Is there a way to increase capacity by adding incentives (e.g., course credit or credit in teaching load, ability to use program data for research milestones or publications)?  • Availability of Champions – Who will take the lead on all of the extra obligations that come with leading programming externally (beyond direct service time)? Does this person have strong interpersonal skills and investment? If not, are there other options?  • Resources – What resources will support program implementation? Will you need to secure additional resources or funding for program implementation to be feasible?  • Existing Relationships – Does your team have existing relationships that will facilitate your ability to partner with corrections? Consider connection through other community groups, coalitions, and committees or reaching out to organizations currently offering programming for advice if not.  • Research Capacity – Do you have capacity to integrate research/evaluation as a routine part of the program? If not, is there an agency you can partner with to do this?
Carceral Setting
• Population Size and Characteristics – Are there enough people in the facility in need of your program? What are their priorities and existing obligations? Is the length of your program feasible given the population flow?  • Degree of Capacity and Need for Community Engagement – Does the facility permit and/or encourage externally-facilitated programs? Through what office? What are the requirements and procedures for new volunteers?  • Availability of Champions – Who will take the lead on shepherding your organization through approvals, recruitment, enrollment, and problem-solving facility challenges?  • Climate – How supportive are the facility leadership and staff of your program? What internal barriers and facilitators are expected? How can barriers be problem solved? Are there any barriers that will prohibit implementation if not possible to overcome?  • Research Support – Are you prepared to support research/evaluation? Are there formal processes/procedures outlined that can be shared with people implementing programs?
All Settings
• Mutual Goals – What are the mutual goals of each setting? If goals seem disparate, are there less obvious goals that might be facilitated if the program were to launch? How can each system help the other get credit for its commitment?  • Communication – How do agencies typically prefer to communicate? Consider mode, frequency of contact, and individuals involved. How do preferred methods change in the case of urgencies or emergencies (e.g., suicidality, mandated reporting needs)?  • Overlapping Availability – Are the schedules of both settings compatible? What competing programming or priorities might interfere program consistency? Can changes be made to decrease interference or better align schedules?

Note: Program leaders should anticipate that responses to many of these considerations are likely to be dynamic and need to be re-evaluated periodically.