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Croatia has 14 prisons, 7 penitentiaries, 2 juvenile correctional institutions, a Training Centre, and a Diagnostic Centre, with approximately 2,600 employees and around 5,000 incarcerated individuals.
Staff in prison and probation services often face high emotional burdens, organisational stressors, and complex interpersonal dynamics. Recognising the need to strengthen professional resilience and prevent burnout, the Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation in Croatia launched a pilot initiative to introduce formal supervision as part of a broader EU-funded project focused on enhancing justice system quality.
In 2019, under the project “Improving the Quality of the Justice System by Strengthening Prison, Probation and Witness Support Capacities”, the Ministry selected 15 professionals (5 from prison system, 5 from probation, 5 from victim and witness support) to complete postgraduate studies in Psychosocial Supervision at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Law.
By 2021, all participants were certified by the Croatian Society for Supervision and Organisational Development (HDSOR) as licensed supervisors.
Internal capacity building: development of first cohort of licensed in-system supervisors.
Voluntary participation: open to uniformed and civilian staff, including those not previously involved in reflective practice.
Organisational support: Ministry enabled cross-sector inclusion in supervision groups across prison, probation, and victim support services.
Reflective group sessions focused on case-related challenges, emotional processing, communication process, and ethical dilemmas.
Interdisciplinary groups supporting exchange between roles and services.
Supervision embedded in the broader goal of safeguarding mental health and preventing burnout.
Integration of insights from postgraduate research into implementation strategy.
Though a formal impact evaluation is still pending, initial insights from final theses of newly trained supervisors highlight several key benefits:
Improved emotional resilience and job satisfaction among staff .
Reduced sense of isolation in high-stress roles.
Increased awareness of interprofessional collaboration and personal-professional boundaries.
Encouragement of peer support culture and open dialogue within hierarchical systems.
Supervision supports not only psychosocial roles: Inclusion of security, administrative, custodial, and technical staff fosters institutional cohesion.
Internal capacity is key: Training supervisors from within the system enhances sustainability and cultural relevance.
Voluntary participation yields genuine engagement: Staff respond positively when supervision is framed as support—not control.
Academic-practice linkages strengthen implementation: Use of postgraduate research findings to guide practice.
Croatia’s experience demonstrates that professional supervision is a viable, impactful tool to support staff wellbeing, strengthen professional identity, and mitigate occupational stress in prison and probation environments. Investing in internal supervision capacity offers a sustainable pathway toward a healthier, more resilient justice system workforce.
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