Probation Promenade

Every journey begins with first steps. The badge is earned, but the path is guided. The Probation Promenade reimagines onboarding as a journey rather than a single orientation event, walking alongside new officers through their critical probationary period to foster connection, engagement, and long-term success.

Developed by the Cook County Social Service Department, the Probation Promenade is a two-pronged onboarding initiative that blends mentorship and engagement through weekly encouragement emails and monthly in-person meetings during an officer’s first six months. This intentional structure recognizes that the first 90 days of employment are pivotal in shaping confidence, morale, retention, and service delivery.

This session explores the impact of early onboarding on workforce stability, organizational culture, and continuity of care for justice-involved individuals. Participants will examine the program’s design and early pilot outcomes demonstrating strong engagement and positive impact. Participants will gain practical insight into how strategic onboarding strengthens officers, agencies, and the quality of services provided to communities.

PRESENTER BIO:

Linda O’Brien is a Regional Manager with the Cook County Social Service Department, bringing nearly 25 years of experience in community corrections. Her work focuses on probation services, staff development, onboarding, and evidence-informed practice, with an emphasis on strengthening officer engagement and service delivery while promoting equitable outcomes.

Linda is the creator of the Probation Promenade, an innovative onboarding program designed to support new probation officers through their critical probationary period by emphasizing connection, mentorship, and sustained engagement. She is a graduate of the IPCSA Inaugural Leadership Academy, where her exploration of onboarding and leadership development directly informed the program’s design and implementation.

This training is COPE approved.

IPCSA Policy Regarding Virtual, COPE Approved Trainings

To receive training credit for virtual, COPE approved IPCSA sponsored trainings, each participant’s display name must contain their first name, last name and county of employment. 

In those rare occasions where individual display names are not possible due to lack of equipment or department resources, multiple participants may use a single computer; however, a supervisor/CMO/Director must email association1969@ipcsa.org at least 48 hours PRIOR to the start of the training to provide a list of those individuals who will be on camera.   The list shall contain the following information for each participant:

• First and last name
• Email address
• County of Employment
  Please allow 45-60 days for training credit to appear in RELIAS.