Work Stress? Vicarious Trauma? Peer Support to the Rescue!
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SESSION INFO

Tuesday, January 7, 2020
2:15 PM - 3:45 PM
Session Type: Workshop
Probation and parole officers face significant stressors on the job: large caseloads, the demands of the dual role of helper and enforcer, exposure to client trauma, etc., and additional stressors frequently exist outside of work. The “culture of the badge” can create an environment unconducive to reaching out to colleagues for support. In early 2017, Sonoma County Probation Department decided to create a staff-to-staff support system and began planning what became the Committee for Resilience and Employee Wellbeing – CREW – built on the principles of trauma-informed organizations. The planning committee adopted a broad understanding of support and wellbeing, and CREW now has a trained team who provide peer support services as well as resources and activities to promote mind and body wellness. This workshop shares the lessons learned in developing a peer support team and leads participants through a sampling of brief stress-reduction/self-care exercises.

SESSION PRESENTERS
Alison Lobb
Program Planning & Evaluation Analyst, Sonoma County Probation


Before joining the Sonoma County Probation Department as a Program Planning and Evaluation Analyst, Alison Lobb worked internationally as a government advisor on poverty issues. She spent 13-years as a volunteer law enforcement chaplain and hospital chaplain. Alison currently volunteers as a co-facilitator of Alternatives to Violence Project workshops with inmates at Folsom Prison. In 2019, she was trained in mind/body practices to become a facilitator of Community Resilience classes and workshops. She is grateful to have had the opportunity to support the planning and implementation of the Committee for Resilience and Employee Wellbeing.

Kilee Willson
Division Director, Sonoma County Probation


Kilee Willson started with Sonoma County Probation in 2005 as a Juvenile Correctional Counselor in Juvenile Hall, promoting to Supervisor and then Division Director. During her time with Probation, she has been a chemical agent’s instructor, been a trainer of security operations, collaborated with community-based organizations to provide quality programming, helped restructure the detention behavior management system, assisted with a new department-wide performance evaluation implementation, and is a CREW steering committee member.