Leadership, training, and educational opportunities

Abstract Correctional settings hold a range of opportunities for psychiatrists to assume leadership roles. The increase in incarcerated persons who require mental health services has created numerous administrative and clinical opportunities for psychiatrists. Following incarceration, assessment of mental health needs, access to care, continuity of care, provision of treatment, and quality improvement partially constitute the components of a comprehensive mental health services delivery system. The leadership role for psychiatrists working in correctional environments is distinctly different from typical psychiatric venues where the psychiatrist and other mental health professionals are in control; in correctional environments, the dynamics are different and require collaboration and advocacy. Within correctional systems, it is essential that “correctional culture” be understood by the psychiatric/mental health leadership. With effective psychiatric leadership, mental health care delivery and its coordination with correctional management of incarcerated persons stand to be improved. The need for dedicated and qualified leadership for mental health services and appropriate education and training in correctional mental health practices provides remarkable opportunities for psychiatrists. Psychiatrists and other health care professionals must be educated and trained to provide the necessary leadership for these extraordinarily complex systems of care and confinement.