Episode 15
Oak Smith Pt 2 | How to Manage a Stressful Workplace
Published on:
23rd October, 2025
Chad continues his conversation with Oak Smith. This time focusing on prison staff instead of inmates. Oak shares the hard truth about correctional officer suicide rates - seven times higher than the general population - and why that number is so high. He talks about spending years "checking his humanity at the gate" every morning and struggling to turn it back on at night, how trauma from the job destroys marriages and families, and why staff are terrified to ask for help because they might lose their jobs. Oak also shares practical ways to support struggling coworkers, the importance of peer support programs, and why everyone needs mind, body, and soul balance - not just people working in prisons.
