On 10th October, on the occasion of the World Mental Health Day, the Lithuanian Prison Service hosted a scientific-practical conference "Professional Challenges and Well-being of Resocialisation Workers". The conference started with a congratulations and award ceremony for the psychologists working in the Service, and was followed by presentations on resocialisation measures and the officers implementing them by two researchers from the Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences, Dr Simonas Nikartas and Dr Rūta Vaičiūnienė.

Dr S. Nikartas presentation "Needs and expectations of contact officers in the context of prison reforms" was based on the results of the project "Changes in prison officers’ professional roles within the shifting custodial sentencing policy and practice“ (PRISTA). The researcher presented data on the expectations and challenges of Lithuanian prisons‘ contact officers in their daily work with inmates. S. Nikartas emphasised that, in addition to addressing the problems of workload and low salaries, it is also important to pay attention to the emotional well-being of the officers, the quality of their relations in prisons and the prison emotional atmosphere.

Dr Rūta Vaičiūnienė presented insights from her research on the impact of an anger management programme. In her presentation "The practice of applying behavioural correction in the penitentiary system: the case of the Anger Management Programme", the researcher first of all reviewed the results of previous studies on behavioural correction programmes (2017-2018 - proposed model of application of social rehabilitation measures, 2020-2021 - analysed the work with domestic violence offenders). Presenting the analysis of the anger management programme, the researcher discussed both the experiences of the participants and the challenges faced by the programme facilitators. The researcher stressed that the results of the research on the impact of the programme indicate that it has been effective in its application. "However, in terms of continuity and expansion of the programme, it is important to establish clear strategic guidelines that assess the quantitative and qualitative indicators and needs of its application," noted Dr Vaičiūnienė.