Our Safe Haven: An Hour-Long, Online Support Sessions for Professionals Coping with Disability-Related Stress

The work you do is difficult, and dealing with disabilities makes it harder still! These live online sessions provide a safe, non-threatening (and often fun!) space for professionals to discuss their challenges and connect with others who share similar experiences.

Led by Katie Gotch, a clinical professional who has personal experience with disabilities, and David Prescott, a mental health practitioner in the field for four decades, these online sessions will provide you with a rich, meaningful experience in a supportive environment.

Motivating Suicidal Clients to Keep “Choosing Life”

There is perhaps no more critical time for helping professionals to listen to a client than when they talk about suicide. As a professional, you want to steer the client in a different direction. But is that the best approach? During the Safer Talk webinar Building Hope and Motivation with Suicidal Clients in Criminal Justice, guest speaker Natalie Cyr suggests that perhaps the best way to help those talking about suicide is to listen to their pain and offer to accompany them toward safety.

Resiliency and Working with Clients from Targeted Communities

In 2022, Miranda Galbreath posted a brief video intended for her friends and close colleagues. In it, she described her professional work with people who choose not to act on their sexual interest in children. An influential group with a well-noted political agenda took a brief section of the video out of context and reposted it widely on social media. Within days, she was publicly criticized over 72,000 times, including by a US Senator.

How Sand Tray Therapy Can Aid Your Treatment with Clients

Therapists and counselors around the world keep sand trays within close reach and know they can be excellent tools for therapeutic engagement and work. Despite their popularity, many therapists are unaware of the range of situations in which sand trays can prove effective. For example, manipulating symbolic objects, such as trees, people, and animals in a tray filled with sand can help clients express their emotional and psychological distress.

Online Training: Conducting Sexual Abuser Risk of Sexual Harm to Children Assessments Using the ROSAC

Mental health, corrections, and child protective services professionals are commonly asked to assess the risk that a person who has sexual abused poses to a specific child and under what circumstances, if any, the abuser might safely be allowed to have contact with the child. The Risk of Sexual Abuse of Children (ROSAC: McGrath, Allin, & Cumming, 2015) is a structured professional judgment assessment instrument for conducting these types of risk of sexual abuse assessments. 

Treating Intimate Partner Violence

This training looks at important considerations when working with clients who perpetrate IPV while ensuring the safety of those suffering the abuse. The session will explore the definitions and dynamics of IPV and domestic violence and review the guiding principles of effective intervention. It provides prevalence statistics and dispels myths about IPV. Treatment approaches will be introduced, intended to end the harmful behavior, but always with the goal of applying measures that will protect the victim from further harm.

Building Hope and Motivation with Suicidal Clients in Criminal Justice

September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness month. The number of people with mental illness who are incarcerated is twice the rate of the overall adult population (NAMI). To help in the prevention of suicide, we are hosting a free one-hour webinar with Senior Training Consultant and Motivational Interviewing Trainer for the Department of Justice and Public Safety, Nathalie Cyr.

Let’s Connect!

The U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory this year on the healing power of social connection and community. Technology has made it easier for us to stay connected, but we are facing more loneliness than ever. But there is hope. In his report, Dr. Vivek Murthy said, “each of us can start now, in our own lives, by strengthening our connections and relationships. Our individual relationships are an untapped resource—a source of healing hiding in plain sight. They can help us live healthier, more productive, and more fulfilled lives.” At Safer Society we believe in the benefits of cultivating connections and work to create networking opportunities for our community.

Evaluating and Writing Reports on Adults Who Have Sexually Offended

This training will help you understand how to integrate your knowledge of actuarial risk assessments, the principles of risk, need, and responsivity, motivational interviewing, and report-writing skills into a comprehensive, ethical psychosexual evaluation report. Evaluations can be necessary at various points in the criminal justice process and for many reasons.

Implementing the Principles of Risk Need Responsivity: Lessons Learned as a Military Correctional Treatment Facility Transitioned to the RNR

The principles of effective correctional rehabilitation, also known as risk, need, and responsivity (RNR) have become recognized as an essential foundation for the treatment of individuals who have committed sexual offenses. While research has demonstrated the importance of these principles, many agencies face challenges in moving existing programs to this model. Examples of these challenges include: