Communicating Effectively

with Prisoners with Mental

Illness
Prepared for Finchworth Prison
Prepared by Abbey Johnson, Grant Hildreth, and Nathel Kaiyeepu

17 April 2019

1
Abstract
In our report we’re going to be discussing the challenges that are faced when
transitioning from academic writing to professional writing. This report is also
going to tell us what challenges are faced with professionals interacting with
prisoners suffering from mental illness, as well as problems and stigmas
placed on prisoners suffering from mental illness. Our employees at
Finchworth Prison need better communication skills when talking to prisoners
with mental illnessAt the end of the report we’re going to be discussing our
solutions and recommendations to help fix these problems.

2
Table of Contents

Abstract …………………………………………………………………….………………….
2

Introduction ………...………………………………………………………..………………..
4

Methods ……………………………………………….……………………………………….4

Results …………….………………………………………...…………………….
……...........4
Results for Transitioning from Colleges to the Workplace …………….……
4
Results for Communicating with Prisoners with Mental Illness ……….
…… 5

Conclusion ……………………………………...……………………...……………….…….5
Conclusions about Transitioning from College to the Workplace
…………. 5
Conclusions about Communicating with Prisoners with Mental Illness
…….6

Recommendations ……………….………………………………………...……………….7
Recommendations for Transitioning from College to the Workplace
………7
Recommendations for Communicating with Prisoners with Mental
Illness ...7

Appendices …………………………...……………………...……………….…..…………8

3
Introduction
This paper will train new employees on how to transition to a new workplace
environment. This paper identifies the common problems graduates run into
when trying to meet the expectations of the workplace, as well as provides
simple solutions to these problems that help a graduate become accustomed
to a workplace setting.

Training new graduates who are beginning careers in prison systems to

effectively communicate with prisoners with mental illness is the next step in
stopping discrimination towards the mentally ill. Discrimination against the
mentally ill is still prevalent in today’s society and prisoners are the most
affected by it. It is necessary to train these new graduates to communicate
using strategies that discourage discrimination against the mentally ill and
persuade those affected by mental illness to speak out.

Methods
To better understand the issues regarding communicating with prisoners
with mental illness, we did some research:

1. We researched effective frameworks and communication strategies for

talking to people with mental illness.
2. We analyzed and discussed our findings.
3. We made recommendations.

Results
Results for Transitioning from College to the Workplace

These are the results of our research on transitioning from an academic

environment to a workplace setting. Kohn states that many new graduates
that enter the workforce experience cultural confusion (Kohn 2015). These
graduates often do not use the same style of writing that the workplace
culture uses. The difference in styles creates errors in communication
between the new employee and the workplace culture. The goals of the
workplace and academic writing are also different. The purpose of academic
writing is to test a student's content knowledge. The focus of a college paper
is on improving the student's skills. With this focus, only the writer has a
stake in the writing. The focus of workplace documents is on the reader
because both the writer and reader have stake in the writing. These
differences in setting and culture are what make transitioning from college
into a job difficult.

4
5
Results for Communicating with Prisoners with Mental Illness

Researching communication strategies for talking about mental health gave

us the following results. One of the best ways to stop mental health stigma is
to educate the public (Nezlek 2001). Healthcare professionals believe that
the best ways to educate the public are through schools and social media
(Mental Health Weekly Digest 2017). Mental health education in school is
important because research has found that children and adolescents are the
most at risk to develop mental health issues (Watters 2017). Educating the
public in mental health literacy makes it easier for people to get the care
they need (Mental Health Weekly Digest 2017). When trying to educate the
public it is important to establish a message that will continue to resonate for
a long time. Research has found that campaigns that lasted less than a year
had little to no effect on diminishing misinformation about mental health
(Nizbek 2001). Educating the public helps stop misconceptions like a mental
illness can be "cured". Living with mental illness is an ongoing journey that is
focused on keeping symptoms under control. The journey should result in
people with mental illnesses having a positive self-image and feeling in
control of their lives (Markowitz 2001). To help them on this journey research
has found that psychiatrists with communications training are more effective
at talking to people about their mental health (Papageorgiou 2017).
Healthcare professionals can also have a negative effect on people with
mental illnesses. Mental health patients report that most discrimination
happens from within the healthcare community (Nezlek 2001).
Discrimination from the healthcare community deters people from speaking
about their mental health. People with mental health issues are often victims
of abuse because they are on the lowest of the totem pole in most
communities. Their social status prevents them from being heard when
trying to talk about the abuse they receive (Crenshaw).

These are our results from researching prisoner mental health care. Prisons
in New Zealand implemented a referral system for prisoners with mental
health issues. The referral system made it easier for family and prison staff
to report prisoners who are showing signs of mental illness. Referrals also
came from nurses who screened prisoners for mental illness when they first
arrived. The referrals were sent to a prison "in-reach" program that monitors
the mental health of prisoners.  The reports sent to the program led to more
prisoners being treated for mental illnesses. But this program doesn't ensure
every prisoner gets the care they need. Many prisoners do not get assessed
and go untreated. When programs receive resources and work with
clinicians, they are more effective at diagnosing prisoners. The collaborations
with clinicians are extremely important when diagnosing prisoner mental
health. The number one source of discrimination according to people with
mental illnesses is from healthcare professionals. In order to stop this
discrimination, it is important that these professionals are properly trained
by the in-reach programs (Pillai 2016).

6
Conclusion

Conclusions about Transitioning from College to the Workplace

Recently graduated workplace writers find the transition from educational

writing to workplace writing to be confusing and difficult.

A problem that new employees face when transitioning into the workplace is
finding the purpose of their writing. College writing usually has two main
purposes. The first purpose is to showcase to your professor that you’ve
retained the information that you’ve been taught. The second purpose of
college writing is to persuade your professor into giving you a good grade,
based off of the knowledge that you’ve gained throughout the course. In the
workplace you’re not writing for a grade, you’re not writing to convince your
boss that you’re educated on the topic, you’re writing about a specific topic
to a specific audience.

New writers bring their own individual writing behaviors to the community.
Recent college graduates have cultivated their own writing style while in
college. It may take a while for the recent college graduates to adjust to a
new writing style that better fits the company’s style. A smooth transition
from academic to workplace writing is to have the students focus on the
context of the writing rather than the overall text itself. Professional editors
are looking for relevance, context and evidence that can be used as added
context.

In academic writing, a lot of students aren’t interested in what they’re

writing. Students don’t feel a deep connection with the topics of their writing.
They know its only purpose is for evaluation from their teachers and
professors. To help combat lack of motivation businesses should also focus
on integrating the new writers into the community culture. If the writers feel
a part of something bigger than themselves, then they’re more likely to write
more engaging and dynamic work.

Conclusions about Communicating with Prisoners with Mental Illness

We’ve discovered through our extensive research that there is a disconnect

between people suffering with severe mental illness and mental health
professionals. According to Alexia Papageorgiou’s case study on,
“Communication Skills Training for Mental Health Professionals Working with
People with Severe Mental Illness,” mental health professionals are not
trained to effectively communicate with severe mental illness patients,
because of this, patients could potentially disengage contact with the

7
services they so desperately need. In order for people with severe mental
health issues to get the help they need, mental health professionals will need
significant training on how to effectively communicate with someone who is
constantly rotating between feelings of depression, worthlessness, loss of
interest, suspiciousness and paranoia. This disconnect or detachment is a
problem that needs to be assessed, addressed and corrected, so that those
suffering from severe mental illness can begin and remain on the road to
recovery.

There is discrimination and stigma against both severe mental illness

patients and prisoners. The stigma surrounding mental health issues is still
present, and the prejudice and discriminatory views on prisoners is
extremely prevalent. Imagine what it would be like to be a prisoner suffering
from a severe mental illness. A prisoner with severe mental illness would fall
into a framework called intersectionality. Black feminist scholar Kimberle
Crenshaw was the first to coin the term in her academic journal, “Mapping
the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women
of Color.” In the article Crenshaw explains a framework called
intersectionality which states how, “interconnecting systems of power (e.g
law and justice, health care, education, real estate) can impact those who
are marginalized (e.g people of color and lgbtq+ community). The study was
first done on the violence against women of color. But since it’s become
more apparent that everyone naturally fall within several identifiable societal
groups (groups that people place and are placed in) the framework has been
used to fit almost every lense genre.

Prisoners with severe mental health illness have an even wider gap between
themselves and mental health professionals. Mental health professionals
(and larger society) may fail to consider the theory that mental health issues
and incarceration may be linked through the intersectionality framework.
Yet, mental health professionals remain aware (and sometimes even
prejudice) of the fact that they’re treating a prisoner mental illness patients.
Society demonizes prisoners, whether it’s subconscious or not. We’re not just
criminalizing the action, but were also criminalizing the individual as well.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Transitioning from College to the Workplace

As a result of our research, we believe that the best way to ease the
transition from college to the workplace is to install a new position within the
company: Director of Employee Integration (DEI). This director position would
be responsible for mentoring our new employees who transitioning from

8
college. The Director of Employee Integration would mentor new employees
to reduce culture confusion. Because recent college graduates are so used to
approaching their professors for help, which is uncommon in workplace
culture, the DEI would act as supervisor of new employees. New employees
would go to the DEI with questions and feedback as they adjust from college
writing to professional writing. In addition, new employees would join the DEI
in projects. The DEI would assign and lead new employees in portions of
projects until the new employees could independently complete projects to a
satisfactory level. The DEI would fulfill these duties by running a training
program for new employees.

Recommendations for Communicating with Prisoners with Mental Illness

To teach good communication skills for talking to prisoners with mental

illness, we recommend integrating a training program for our employees. As
a result of our research, we have concluded that the training program would
focus on teaching all employees who interact with prisoners how to
communicate with people with mental illness. This training program would
teach effective frameworks to use when talking about mental illness, practice
using basic communication skills for talking to people with mental illness,
and educate employees about discrimination against prisoners with mental
illness, specifically. Concluding this program, employees would hold all of the
skills necessary to communicate effectively with prisoners with mental
illness.

We believe that these recommendations would resolve any difficulties as a

result of the transition from college to the workplace as well as
communicating effectively with prisoners with mental illness.

Appendices

Crenshaw, Kimberlé  “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity,

Politics,     and Violence Against Women of Color”.

In the article Crenshaw talks about the experience of battered women and
how their duality is a contributing factor in their abuse. Crenshaw explains
how women of color go unheard and abused by society due to the fact that
they are placed lowest on the totem pole of the several communities they
fall within. For women of color it is impossible to assist them in equality
without analyzing how their class, race and gender work together in keeping
them oppressed.

9
Intersectionality is going to be a good framework to use because it talks
about how people fall into different groups, and how these groups work
separately, but don't come together to help those who fall between the
cracks. We're researching the mental health of prisoners. If you focus too
much on mental health and forget about the aspects of being a prisoner,
you're neglecting all the symptoms, stigmas and circumstances that come
with being a prisoner. If you focus too much on the life of a prisoner and not
look at their mental health, and at their mental health you can set yourself
up to misunderstand the ways and actions of the prisoner. With everything
you have to ask yourself, how did I get here? If you don't look at how the
situations and circumstances of a prisoner shaped their ideas of right and
wrong, you can't fully help them rehabilitate into larger society.

"Communication skills training for mental health professionals working with

people with severe mental illness"

Markowitz, Fred E. “Modeling Processes in Recovery from Mental Illness:

Relationships between Symptoms, Life Satisfaction, and Self-Concept.”
Journal of Health and Social Behavior, vol. 42, no. 1, 2001, p. 64.,
doi:10.2307/3090227.

In Markowitz's journal article “Modeling Processes in Recovery from Mental

Illness,” he explains what hurdles mental health patients would encounter on
their road to recovery. There’s a huge misconception that a person can be
“cured” from mental illness. No one is ever cured from their mental health
issues, they can find a way to master them so that it doesn’t affect their
daily lives. Mental health is an, “ongoing process of recovery,” the emphasis
is on the journey rather than the final destination. A person with a mental
illness would have to deal with internal and external factors on their road to
recovery. “For persons with severe mental illness, controlling symptoms,
regaining a positive sense of self, dealing with stigma and discrimination,
and trying to lead a productive and satisfying life is the goal.” A big part of
the recovery process is building a positive sense of self that will help combat
low self esteem and critique from society. People suffering from mental
illness spend their whole lives chasing “normal”, a state where they have
healthy control over their health and life.

This article is helpful because it is focused on the recovery process of mental

health. I believe that it’ll balance out the other articles my teammates chose.
We’re studying, “persuasive frameworks for trauma victims.” This article
talks about the different methods a person can use to help confront and heal
from traumas. Markowitz takes you through the process of healing a mental
health illness. It starts with what mental illness is, how it can affect the lives
of those suffering from it, and ends with methods that can help treat it.

10
Papageorgiou, Alexia, et al. “Communication Skills Training for Mental Health
Professionals Working with People with Severe Mental Illness.” The
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, vol. 6, no. 6, June 2017, pp.
CD010006–CD010006, doi:10.1002/14651858.CD010006.pub2.

Papageorgiou's article discusses the communication skills training for mental

health professionals who encounter people with severe mental illnesses. The
article focuses on data from a trial regarding patient satisfaction after
meeting with a random psychiatrist to look at what kind of communication is
beneficial to patients. Results were widely inconclusive due to lack of
evidence, but the author found a slight increase in satisfaction of the
patients who had psychiatrists who were given communication skills training.
This article, though its results are somewhat inconclusive, does show a
positive improvement based on communication skills training. Thus, I think
we can use this article in our project to justify our reasoning in implementing
training course in communication skills for our employees.

Pillai, Krishna et al. “From Positive Screen to Engagement in Treatment: a

Preliminary Study of the Impact of a New Model of Care for Prisoners with
Serious Mental Illness.” BMC psychiatry 16.9 (2016): 9–9. Web.

"Reports Summarize Mental Health Study Results from University of Qatar

(Healthcare professionals' perspectives on a mental health educational
campaign for the public)." Mental Health Weekly Digest, 25 Sept. 2017,
p. 47. Expanded Academic ASAP,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A506215723/EAIM?
u=umn_winona&sid=EAIM&xid=6a9d7266. Accessed 19 Mar. 2019.

This article looks at medical professionals' view on spreading awareness

about mental health. Mental health weekly digest says that most medical
professionals support the idea of spreading mental health awareness. The
article states that medical professionals would like to see people improve
their mental health literacy. Improving mental health literacy would help
make finding the right treatment easier according to the medical
professionals. The medical professionals also said that mental health
education should start at a young age. "Health care providers believe such
educational campaigns should be started in schools so that mental health
awareness can have a positive influence from a young age." Positive mental
health education could also make an impact on social media.  "Social media
was viewed as a suitable platform to deliver positive messages relating to
mental health to the public." Medical professionals warn however, that

11
cultural context is important when creating messages about mental health.
This article is helpful because it gives ideas as to where mental health
education should be shown. The opinions of the medical professionals are
also helpful because they show that mental health education is a issue that
needs to be addressed. Their opinions could help us create a persuasive
framework that focuses on what the medical world thinks about mental
health.

Sartorius, Norman. “Short-Lived Campaigns Are Not Enough.” Nature News, Nature Publishing
Group, 10 Nov. 2010, www.nature.com/articles/468163a.

In this article, Norman Sartorius talks about past and current mental health
awareness campaigns. Sartorius looks at what strategies worked for these
campaigns and ones that did not. The stigma around mental health has
caused many people to live with mental illnesses untreated. The campaigns
that were not as effective were the ones that lasted less than a year. These
campaigns had little to no effect on mental health stigma. The ones that
lasted longer than a year were more successful. These campaigns also
learned better ways to communicate messages about mental health stigma.
The first thing the campaigns learned was to be wary of survey results.
Statistics are helpful for gathering information about the general attitude
towards mental health. But for figuring out what issues need addressing,
talking to people with mental health issues is better. The second thing the
campaigns learned was that healthcare professionals also played a role in
continuing the stigma. People with mental health illnesses reported that
discrimination from healthcare staff was a bigger problem then
discrimination from the general public. The campaigns also learned that
educating the public is the best way to stop mental health stigma. In Egypt,
when the people learned that mental illnesses could be treated, the mentally
ill were allowed to rejoin society. This article is helpful because it shows what
mental health awareness strategies work. This article will also help us form a
solution from the examples of educating the public that have failed and
succeeded.

Watters, Cynthia. “Editorial Perspective: Effective Mental Health and

Psychosocial Interventions for Children and Adolescents in Street
Situations.” Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied
Disciplines, vol. 58, no. 2, 2017, pp. 215–17, doi:10.1111/jcpp.12625.

Watters' article discusses mental health and mental health intervention

sources available to children and adolescents on the streets. Specifically,
Watters claims that children and adolescents on the streets are the most at-
risk group for mental health issues including depression, low self-worth,

12
psychological and behavioral problems, and being suicidal. The article
reports some interventions available to help adolescents in street situations,
which include shelters, centers, and educational programs. Concluding this
article, Watters states that there is not enough research to determine what
the most beneficial of these interventions is in helping students on the
streets. I like the information offered in this article about the mental health
of adolescents in street situations and think this would be a good source to
refer to in our research for this project.

13