Women in Corrections Conference

Dr. Stephanie S. Covington is an internationally recognized clinician, author, organizational consultant, and lecturer.

 

She is a pioneer in the fields of addiction, trauma, and recovery. She has developed an innovative, gender-responsive, and trauma-informed approach that results in effective services in public, private, and institutional settings. Her presentations, staff development seminars, and technical assistance focus on systems change and developing caring, compassionate, and empowering therapeutic environments. They provide professionals an opportunity to learn new skills for dealing with personal, institutional, and societal changes and are always in demand nationally and internationally.

 

Dr. Covington was a workshop chair for the Women’s Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) published by The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and served on the Advisory Council for Women’s Services for SAMHSA. She also is a former chair of the Women's Committee of the International Council on Alcoholism and Addiction. Her clients include the Betty Ford Treatment Center, the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment in Washington, D.C., and numerous others. She has conducted seminars for behavioral health professionals, community organizations, and criminal justice professionals in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Europe, Africa, Iceland, Brazil, and New Zealand.

 

For thirty years, she has also provided training and consulting to help institutions and programs in the criminal justice system develop effective gender-responsive and trauma-informed services. These include the U. S. Federal Bureau of Prisons, the National Institute of Corrections, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; many other state and local jurisdictions; the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime; the Ministries of Justice in England, Scotland, and Switzerland; and the Correctional Service of Canada. She was the featured consultant and therapist on the Oprah Winfrey Network docu-reality show entitled Breaking Down the Bars. She also co-authored a three-year research project, Gender-Responsive Strategies: Research, Practice, and Guiding Principles for Women Offenders, for the National Institute of Corrections. This publication received the University of Cincinnati Award for its outstanding contribution to corrections in the U.S. and Canada. Based in Del Mar, California, Dr. Covington is co-director of the Institute for Relational Development and the Center for Gender & Justice, which seeks to expand gender-responsive policies and practices for individuals under criminal justice supervision.

 

Educated at Columbia University and the Union Institute, Dr. Covington has served on the faculties of the University of Southern California, San Diego State University, and the California School of Professional Psychology. She is a board-certified Diplomate of the National Association of Social Workers and a member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy. She also belongs to the International Corrections and Prisons Association, the Western Society of Criminology, and the Association of Justice-Involved Females and Organizations.

 

Dr. Covington has published extensively, including twelve gender-responsive, trauma-informed treatment curricula. She wrote the first comprehensive manualized treatment program for substance use disorder treatment. She also has published trauma-focused training materials for staff development and organizational change. Her newest publications are Hidden Healers: The Unexpected Ways Women in Prison Help Each Other Survive and the updated thirtieth-anniversary edition of the best-selling book A Woman’s Way through the Twelve Steps.

Dr. Elizabeth Falcon is a nationally recognized expert who has spearheaded behavioral health program strategy and innovation for jails and prisons nationwide. With over 20 years of experience as a Correctional and Forensic Psychologist, she has developed, implemented, restructured, monitored, and managed jail and prison mental health programs in well over 200 facilities in 27 states.  This includes 30 adult state prisons (IL), 11 juvenile prisons (IL), and over 20 BOP prisons, US Marshals, and ICE facilities in 5 states.  Dr. Falcon led and continues to lead field experts in the implementation of evidence-based models and best practices in jails and prisons nationwide.

 

Dr. Falcon holds strong expertise in: Mental Health Program Development for Jails and Prisons, Suicide Prevention, Evidence-Based Programming for Severely Mentally-Ill inmates, Specialized programming for Segregated Inmates, Restoration of Competency, Sexually Violent Predators, Substance Abuse, Inpatient/Outpatient Programs, Community Reintegration, Policy Development, and Specialized Assistance to Consent Decree or Court Mandated Facilities.

 

Dr. Falcon has worked with large consent decree facilities such as the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Facility in Albuquerque (NM), Cook County Jail in Chicago (IL), and Maricopa County Detention Facilities in Phoenix (AZ).  Dr. Falcon is a leader in the analysis, evaluation, and restructuring of intricate suicide intervention systems for large and small facilities. She has served as keynote speaker for many industry audiences on such topics as:  Suicide Prevention, Managing High-Risk Populations, Segregation and Restrictive Housing.  She has trained and taught hundreds of healthcare and security staff in various correctional mental health and crisis intervention topics.

 

Dr. Falcon is a member of the International Corrections and Prisons Association. She works closely with many Corrections organizations and provides strong support for the National Sheriffs Association, Major County Sheriffs Association, and the American Jail Association.  She is an active member of the National Sheriffs Association Psychological Services and the NSA Jails, Detentions and Corrections Committee. Dr. Falcon works closely with the Department of Justice,National Institute of Corrections, as a high level Technical Resource Provider.

Hayley has been the Deputy Chief Executive since October 2021. As a member of Executive, Hayley is accountable for the strategic development and delivery of Statewide Operations, including nine prisons and fifteen Community Correctional Centres. She is also the State Contract Administrator for several contracted services including two private prison operations, prisoner transport and movement services and electronic monitoring. Hayley co-chairs the Department’s Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group and is passionate about progressing Closing the Gap initiatives.

 

Prior to her current role Hayley was the Executive Director for Community Corrections and Specialist Prisons, a portfolio that enabled her to impart her strong focus on reintegration and rehabilitation, progressing tailored approaches to the unique needs of women in the Criminal Justice System and progressing alternative to custody initiatives. Hayley has also held the role of Director of Sentence Management where she had oversight of psychological services, assessment and sentence planning, the Serious Offender Committee, custodial case management and movement coordination of prisoners. She first commenced with the Department in 2006 in a practitioner role providing psychological services to women offenders and has maintained a passion for delivering on the needs of women offenders throughout her career. Previous psychology based placements included in the Courts Administration Authority Mental Health Diversion Court and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Cramond Clinic primarily working with clients with Borderline Personality Disorder.

 

Hayley was born in Mount Gambier in 1982 and did her schooling years in regional South Australia before moving to Adelaide in 2001 to attend the University of South Australia to commence tertiary studies. Hayley is a proud South Australian and committed to serving the South Australian community with a keen interest in regional services and opportunities. Hayley has a Master of Psychology (Forensic), Master of Business Administration and Graduate Certificate Public Sector Management and is committed to delivering a high quality service that balances the operational compliance needs of the organisation with delivering rehabilitative outcomes for offenders and victims of crime. She maintains her registration with the Psychology Board of Australia and professional relationships with the universities in South Australia and continues to provide input into course content, delivers workshops and, at times, provides supervision of psychology students and PhD candidates.