Chapter 1 Goals of Offender Counseling and Treatment Goals of offender counseling and treatment are challenged by 3 trends 1 Political and scholarly debate concerning the effectiveness of offender 2 A litigiously based drive for hyper vigilant if not excessive agency therapy accountability 3 Declining fiscal and personnel resources Primary goal of correctional counselors is to intervene w clients who are offenders Types of therapeutic interventions o Prison adjustment o Prisoner re entry o Risk of future offending o Substance abuse o Education and employment o Trauma o Family concerns o Mental health concerns The Counseling Process 4 essential qualities of good correctional counseling 1 A sense of timing and good communication 2 Effective risking 3 Therapeutic intention and outcome 4 Professional humility Therapeutic intention is a key quality the counselor attempts to communicate to his or her client through modeling empathy genuineness and storytelling 6 Basic elements of communication 1 Body 2 Values 3 Expectations 4 Senses 5 Words and voice 6 Past experiences Additional concerns o Cultural and ethnic sensitivity o Gender responsiveness Motivational Interviewing a client centered directive method for enhancing intrinsic motivation to change by exploring and resolving ambivalence o This is done through a process of eliciting and selectively reinforcing times when clients demonstrate change talk or their own self motivational statements Types of Correctional Counseling Correctional counseling occurs in both community based and institutional based systems Types of interventions used in these settings include o Individual counseling and casework o Group counseling o Educational and vocational counseling o Recreation o Psychotherapy Effectiveness of Offender Counseling and Treatment Meta analysis are the most effective tools to determine the effectiveness of correctional counseling programs Effective counseling is comprised of o Focusing intensive interventions on high risk offenders o Utilization of behavioral and cognitive behavioral interventions o A high degree of treatment integrity and program quality o A method for matching characteristics of the offender therapist and program o A cooperative treatment community o Administrative and institutional support o Practical life skills and treatment experiences that reinforce personal accountability o Program evaluation o Relapse prevention strategies o A well trained and educated staff Chapter 2 Principles and Techniques interventions A collaborative relationship between counselor and client is required for successful While personal involvement with the offender is essential it is important to maintain interpersonal boundaries Looking to the past for understanding of an offender s behavior is often fruitless as offenders generally think more in the here and now Counselors are advised to seek collateral information about their clients Effective treatment techniques include group counseling cognitive behavioral interventions challenging the thinking errors of the offender 8 Primary Criminal Thinking Patterns Walters vs Elliot Verdeyen o Mollification The Blaming Game o Cutoff I Feel Nothing o Entitlement I Should Get What I Want o Power Orientation I m In Charge o Sentimentality Look at Me Being Good o Superoptimism I Can Get by with Anything o Cognitive Indolence That s Too Much Work o Discontinuity I Talk One Way and Act Another Resistance to Treatment Power struggles are counterproductive to effective counseling To avoid power struggles between counselor and offender the 3 R s should be used o Redirection return focus of attention to the task or issue at hand o Reframing encourage offender to adopt a different perspective regarding the source of their resistance o Reversal of Responsibility reflect offenders resistance back to them in a manner that assigns personal responsibility and demands accountability The Dirty Dozen Power and Control Tactics Exhibited by Inmates in Counseling Sphere of Influence Testing Diversion Extortion Disreputation Rumor Clinic Solidarity Negotiation Revenge Boundary Intrusion Ingratiation Splitting Ethical Dilemmas Successful treatment can occur only in a secure environment Several ethical dilemmas can occur in the therapeutic environment o Definition of the client o Dual or multiple relationships o Competency issues o Confidentiality Contextual Demands Working in a bureaucracy Handling excessive paperwork Managing large caseloads Responding to racial and ethnic skewing Working with special needs offenders Providing crisis intervention services Surviving the dehumanizing effects of the prison environment Final Considerations Burnout prevention is important for a correctional counselor to be aware of Maintaining exercising healthy sense of humor can help to prevent burnout 10 Commands for Prison Staff 1 Go home safe and sound at the end of the day 2 Establish realistic expectations 3 Set firm and consistent limits 4 Avoid power struggles 5 Manage interpersonal boundaries 6 Don t take things personally 7 Strive for an attitude of healthy skepticism 8 Don t fight the bureaucracy 9 Ask for help 10 Don t take your work home with you Chapter 3 Psychoanalytic Psychodynamic Theory Psychoanalytic therapy is based on a theory of the human mind that focuses on unconscious as well as conscious thoughts and desires Psychoanalytic theory was developed by Sigmund Freud at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries He and other psychoanalysts modified this theory considerably over time Psychoanalysis was the first major technique of psychotherapy Freud s principle of Psychic Determinism all behavior is motivated includes 3 mental structures o Id primitive part of people s mental makeup present at birth unconscious biological drives for food sex and life sustaining necessities o Ego regulates Id and Superego keeps actions within boundaries o Superego wishes that we take over from other people such as our conscience and wishes that characterize what we would like to be The crucial motivator in psychic interaction is anxiety which is produced when an individual experiences conflict between the individual and the environment Defense mechanisms or adaptive responses to conflict are short term solutions to long term problems Examples include o Repression pushing desires thoughts out of our conscience Ex forgetting that your pet was run over by a car o Displacement changing the object of a feeling to a