Abstract

Working for the prison service can be a challenging career and being a senior member of staff places additional pressures on individuals, increasing exposure to stress. Stress has consequences for mental health and wellbeing which was explored through conducting interviews with 63 governor grade staff. The Power Threat Meaning Framework was applied to the data to help understand emotional distress and identify the impact in terms of threat responses. Power was discussed by participants describing they were not empowered in their roles, they were overworked, and they were operating in an environment with a clear hierarchical divide which added to the Power struggles. This was alongside experiencing traumatic events either through their work, or due to how they were treated by the service. There was a perceived Threat of being punished for asking for help, for doing something innovative, and for not being able to take time away from their work. This resulted in a Threat to their wellbeing and work life balance, as well as becoming disconnected from the rest of the organisation. The Meaning they placed on this included a need to be “bullet-proof”, that support was inaccessible, they are weak if they need support, and their only option was to follow the rules, leading to disenchantment. To survive, the Threat responses included putting on “armour” to “just get on with it”, or that they were facing burnout, and for some, there was a decision to leave the service and retire early resulting in fears for future staffing.