Lessons Learned From Early Corrections and Law Enforcement Family Support (CLEFS) Programs

摘要

Since 1996 the National Institute of Justice has awarded over 32 grants under the Corrections and Law Enforcement Family Support (CLEFS) Program to address the negative effects of stress experienced by law enforcement and correctional officers and their families. The CLEFS Program was developed in response to Section 2301 of the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Assistance Act. The programs that have been awarded grants under CLEFS have been very diverse. The funded programs have included peer support, critical incident stress debriefing, chaplain services, inoculation stress training for rookies and officers on the job as well as the implementation and evaluation of innovative clinical techniques such as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) with law enforcement officers. a In the relative short time of its existence, the CLEFS Program has undergone a number of changes. In 1998 the title of the program was changed from its original title of Law Enforcement Family Support (LEFS) Program to CLEFS. This was done in recognition that correctional oficers and their family members also may experience negative consequences as a result of job related stress. This broadening of the program has allowed for a greater understanding of the issues faced by officers and family members and identification of ways to address these issues. Also, the broadening of the program has allowed NIJ to expand the potential impact of the CLEFS Program to address officers stress and its impact on the family.