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Practicing the “I’m good!” code of silence rewards How to Break the “I’m Good!” Code of Silence
affected staff with the short-term gain of earning the Breaking the “I’m good!” code of silence requires the
respect of their peers, and experiencing pride and self- following ingredients, at minimum:
satisfaction that they are tough. However, this short- • trailblazing honesty and courage;
term gain comes in exchange for long-term pain—lack • the provision of suitable resources;
of healing of the distress endured and lack of relief.
Staff who do not address the emotional impact of the • policies about the management of staff exposed to
job cannot hit the “reset” button, be refreshed, and traumatic and other high-stress situations;
resume their careers in a relatively healthy state of • policies that protect staff wellness proactively;
mind. Instead, the inner pressure continues to build • supportive supervisory styles; and
as more and more incidents get “stuffed” into their • confronting misconceptions, prejudices, and biases;
emotional crawlspace during the course of their career, education; and role modeling of transparency by
and the emotional burden keeps increasing. Then one leaders.
day, the crawlspace overflows or the door blows wide
open with the contents spilling out. Education and the provision of resources must be
Staff’s overall self-care suffers because they cannot accompanied by the transparent sharing of leaders.
tend to their distress if they deny its existence or are Such sharing involves leaders telling their personal
stories about their struggles in relation to work
not even aware of it. When the presence of pain is not stressors, the negative consequences trauma had on
acknowledged and seen as a signal to tend to a need, their lives, and their courageous journey through
healing and resolution cannot take place. struggles to a place of openness and true resilience.
Another consequence of the “I’m good!” code of
The use of mandatory overtime needs to be
silence is that staff will have difficulty experiencing examined in this context, as the longer staff are at
empathy and compassion for others when they do work, the more likely they are to encounter traumatic
not have compassion for themselves. They cannot situations. Working overtime also means that staff have
be understanding and supportive of others or offer less time away from work to decompress, relax, recover,
genuine words and gestures of comfort when they have and reflect on what they have experienced at work.
no understanding of their own struggles. They may And they have less time to spend with loved ones, less
also have difficulty with intimate conversations and time to enjoy and maintain their social support systems,
exchanges. Their loved ones may experience them as and less time to engage in positive activities—all of
distant, cold, callous, indifferent, uncaring, and “hard.” which combat the poisonous impact of trauma.
As a result, their most important relationships may pay
a heavy price. Dismantling the “I’m good!” code of silence requires
an agency-wide, trauma-responsive approach that
involves educating staff on the effects of psychological
Why the “I’m Good!” Code of Silence Must Go trauma and other high-stress events on them, the
Given how destructive this code of silence is for
staff, their families, and the entire workplace culture, workforce culture, and their families. And one that
teaches them strategies to attain and maintain true
one goal of corrections organizations must become to resilience and well-being in the face of inherent
systematically debunk, dismantle, and dispose of the stressors of corrections environments.
“I’m Good!” mentality.
Yes, staff need to “keep it together” in order to This type of education needs to be delivered
function during critical incidents at work, and when proactively to all staff as a form of emergency
preparedness, repeatedly and preferably annually.
they are performing their job of managing offenders Adult family members of staff can also be educated on
or other staff. However, there comes a time when our the impact of trauma and other high-stress events and
reality needs to be acknowledged to protect our well- provided with resources and ways to address trauma in
being and survival. Staff need to become aware of their loved ones effectively.
how the extreme stress of trauma affects them; how
their core beliefs about themselves, the world, and life To support those who are affected in spite of their
changed because of it; and what they can do about it agency’s best efforts, mental health and other wellness
to reclaim themselves and their lives—to turn the piles resources can be made available to the agency’s staff.
of manure of their extremely stressful experiences to These include corrections-knowledgeable EAP and
fertilizer as much as possible. Bouncing back after other community-based mental health providers, law
trauma in order to regain quality of life and maintain enforcement chaplains, peer support, or community-
effective functioning at work and at home requires us based programs. We need to normalize the experience
to accept our vulnerabilities and shed the unwarranted of emotional distress and accept the fact that we are
shame of being human. fragile beings, and there are limitations regarding what

12 | JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2022 AMERICANJails