When should one’s reentry services begin?
The reason why reentry services are essential before one’s release is that it allows prison officials and health care staff personnel (within and outside of prisons) to identify critical gaps to enable seamless reintegration (Greifinger, 2022; Fahmy & Mitchell, 2022; Latessa et al., 2020; Levy, 2019). Many have not been to prison; however, several have […]
Justice-involved individuals and the challenges of living with a chronic illness?
Although oral health, diabetes, and uncontrolled blood pressure concerns possess issues specific to that aliment, some challenges appear to be shared when it comes to justice-involved people that transcend the three illnesses mentioned above. The challenges faced by justice-involved individuals living with chronic or acute illnesses range from multiple psychological issues to inadequate access to […]
Substance abuse, mimicking mental health disorders, and the importance of differential diagnosis
A way that substance abuse could mimic mental health disorders is that one could have been exposed to a trauma, which created – an undiagnosed – mental disorder (ex. depression, anxiety, PTSD etc.). Because of the mental anguish one may encounter related to their disorder, they turn to drugs and/ or alcohol to self-medicate. Frequent […]
How is being culturally competent relevant when addressing the needs of underserved communities, namely justice involved and impacted persons?
When examining historic cultural competence demonstrated by Americans, Strategy and Ethnocentrism’s Kenneth Booth (1979) stated that they “…are often blind by their inability to perceive other cultures or societies in an empathetic manner or to understand them” (Howard et al., 2016, p. 23). The inability to perceive empathetically, which reinforces cultural competence, has constrained many […]
Healthcare for the incarcerated: Is it adequate?
Because of the ambiguous terms “adequate and inadequate,” I believe enabling a common perspective of such terms would be helpful before proceeding. According to Merriam-Webster (n.d), words associated with the term adequate are sufficient, reasonable, and good enough; and terms related to inadequate are not enough, insufficient, and not capable. Although the terms mentioned above […]