Trauma–Informed Training at DOC

February 8, 2023

By DOC Communications (email) Department of Corrections

Washington State Department of Corrections’ (DOC) is excited to share news about upcoming Trauma Informed Training that focuses on interactions with families impacted by incarceration. This training will be provided by Community Resilient Initiative which is a trauma-informed Signature Certified Training Course.

The training is funded through a grant that focuses on families impacted by incarceration and was selected as a result of feedback received from the 2022 Family Friendly – Visits and Extended Family Visits (EFV) survey. Visit Room staff will be among the first to receive the training, with the future goal of making this impactful training available to many more over the upcoming year. This is just one of the many approaches the Department is exploring to have a more gender-responsive and trauma-informed agency (pdf).

The 6-hour Trauma Informed training will be followed by training specific to Visitation. Topics covered in this training are also a result of the 2022 survey and will include topics such as searches of visitors, professional interactions, and Visitation and EFV Standards as seen through a trauma-informed lens.

To accommodate this training for visitation staff, there is a need to close one day of visitation at each of the facilities during the month of March to deliver the training, because visitation staff work on scheduled visitation days, and it would require paying overtime to have visit staff come in on their days off to attend the training, which the grant did not have sufficient funds for. This training will accomplish a goal that families requested, and we agree is very important, to help visitation staff understand how to approach monitoring visitation through a trauma-informed lens.

Please note the closure schedule listed below so that you can plan accordingly with the least amount of disruption. The closures will be posted on the facility alert and notices webpage in the near future.

If you have any questions please reach out to Corrections Manager Dawn Taylor or Statewide Visit Specialist Liz Hainline

Visitation will be CLOSED as follows to accommodate the training:

March 3, 2023:	Monroe Correctional Complex
March 6, 2023:	Washington Corrections Center for Women Mission Creek Corrections Center
March 10, 2023:	Stafford Creek Corrections Center Clallam Bay Corrections Center Olympic Corrections Center
March 13, 2023:	Washington Corrections Center Cedar Creek Corrections Center Larch Corrections Center
March 24, 2023:	Airway Heights Corrections Center
March 27, 2023:	Coyote Ridge Corrections Center Washington State Penitentiary