The importance of appropriate mental health staffing in correctional settings is well established through NCCHC standards, court rulings, and administration expectations. However, determining appropriate staffing for mental health professionals is difficult, as each facility’s needs can be vastly different and these professionals’ jobs can be so varied. This presentation explains how a medium-sized agency developed a staffing matrix informed by NCCHC standards; this may be a useful model for other agencies.

Learning Objectives:

• Review what the NCCHC standards require for basic mental health services
• Examine the creation of a template to assess facility needs
• Discuss generalizability of the template for other agencies

Level: Basic