By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Back in April, Central Kansas Community Corrections Director Brooke Haulmark was just a few months into her new position when she had to outline CKCC's goals for the upcoming 2025 fiscal year. Goal number one for the first quarter that began in July was completing assessments for at least 90 percent of new clients within 30 days of their assignment to CKCC by the court. As she approaches her first anniversary on the job after the New Year, Haulmark is happy to report a 97 percent success rate.
"These are standardized assessments that are done for prison population, parole, and community corrections," she said. "It helps to set that foundation of where the individual has some needs that need to be addressed, and where can we focus programming to ensure they are successful and don't ever come back on supervision once they're done."
Haulmark said the organization that serves five counties in the 20th Judicial District was more than 200 assessments behind when she took over the position. She said timeliness of the assessments is important for several reasons, including building on any momentum a client has to make changes following sentencing.
"If you wait longer than 30 or 45 days, that momentum to handle business fades away," she said. "We have to stay on top of doing those assessments. Case management is do the assessment, get them with their programming, do check-ins with them. If you don't have the assessment, you don't even know what their risk areas are. It is the foundational piece of case management."
Haulmark credits peer-to-peer accountability and tips from Patrick Lencioni's "The Five Dysfunctions as a Team" in meeting the goal. The other two goals set in April include developing a case plan for 90 percent of high-risk offenders within 45 days and having 90 percent of those high-risk offenders entered into a statewide database within 60 days.