Working in mental health within a prison setting is an often overlooked yet extremely fulfilling career pathway in mental health nursing. Correctional nursing offers rewarding and stimulating opportunities for nurses wanting to advance their mental health practice in this specialised area.

Correctional mental health, also known as forensic mental health, is a highly-specialised field of nursing practice focussed on the mental and physical health care needs of people in a correctional setting. The correctional environment provides unique challenges for nurses as they balance the need to provide evidence based, Recovery oriented mental health care within a secure environment.

Nurses working in correctional mental health services work closely with patients who may be suffering from severe and enduring mental illness, have complex needs, are difficult to engage and often have comorbid diagnosis. As with any community, the men and women with mental illness in prison have varying levels of acuity and a diverse set of mental health needs. This diversity provides nursing staff with a wide range of career options.

Opportunities include:
• caring for patients within bed-based mental health services
• case management of mainstream and protection prisoners
• mental health crisis assessment
• suicide and self-harm risk assessment
• initial reception mental health assessments
• providing early intervention and prevention programs
• discharge planning and community linkage work

Correctional officers work in partnership with mental health teams to deliver complimentary case management, and maintain the safety and security of the prison environment. Nurses and other clinicians are supported by correctional staff to deliver care, treatment and therapeutic programs in a way that maintains staff and patient safety and well-being in an atmosphere of collegiality. As new facilities open, correctional based models of offender rehabilitation, together with mental health frameworks of care such as Recovery, are bringing anticipated improvement in the levels of mental health and reintegration into the community upon release from prison.

As treatment for mental health issues in Victorian prisons is voluntary, nursing skills are focussed on building strong relationships with patients to encourage and support therapeutic outcomes. Correctional nursing staff develop advanced interpersonal and collaborative skills which allow them to work with a person experiencing difficult life circumstances and maintain a focus on supporting patients to achieve their Recovery goals.

Multidisciplinary teams within correctional mental health services provide a wide range of therapeutic programs focused on the mental health Recovery journey of their patients. These programs are provided by all members of the team, including nurses, and are flexible in their delivery. Programs are delivered in individual sessions or as group programs. Nursing staff are often responsible for the coordination of mental health care under a key clinician model.

Working within a correctional setting provides nurses with opportunities to experience the full spectrum of mental health nursing care. Correctional mental health care provides mental health nurses with the possibility to grow and develop new, innovative ways of working, and to take their skills to the next level. Providing care in these diverse and challenging settings allows nurses to be a central partner in a patients’ Recovery journey. Nurses provide stable, intensive and supportive care to the patient; often for the first time in their lives, as their mental health, lifestyle, or drug use issues are given a safe space to be resolved. Correctional mental health nursing brings hope through Recovery to some of the most marginalised members of our community, and leads to both healthier patients and a fulfilling nursing career.