Pathways – Fourth Edition

A Guided Workbook for Youth Beginning Treatment

By Timothy J. Kahn, MSW

Buy it now | View the Table of Contents & Preface

The Pathways workbook has been a cornerstone in the treatment of sexually aggressive youth since the first edition was issued twenty years ago. As the field has evolved and advanced, so has Pathways. This new Fourth Edition reflects current research and clinical experience with adolescents by focusing on strength-based methods to help clients develop healthy and productive lifestyles consistent with the Good Lives Model of rehabilitation. Pathways continues to use a restorative justice theme emphasizing concern for restitution, development of victim empathy and personal responsibility. Focus is shifted from the offense cycle into understanding the antecedents to a client’s sexual acting out.

The Fourth Edition incorporates quizzes into the end of each chapter. Experience has shown that the quizzes are a rewarding and helpful way to ensure that clients are reading and comprehending t he material in the chapters. The tests also provide the client with a tangible sense accomplishment.

Pathways is written for both adolescent boys and girls, and is appropriate for both adjudicated and non-adjudicated clients with a wide variety of sexual behavior problems. (2011)

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About the Author

Timothy J. Kahn is a nationally recognized clinician and trainer in the field of sexual offender and sexual behavior problem treatment. His well-known books, Pathways and Roadmaps to Recovery serve as models for the treatment process in programs across the country. He and his son, Krishan Hansen, MSW, have coauthored Footprints (2005), a guided workbook for developmentally delayed adolescents and adults.

Mr. Kahn is a clinical assistant professor with the University of Washington School of Clinical Work. From 1990 to 1998 he served as a member and as the chairman of the Washington State Department of Health Sex Offender Treatment Provider Advisory Committee, which developed evaluation and treatment standards and licensing requirements for sex offender treatment providers in the state of Washington. He has been instrumental in the development of training and treatment programs in Washington and British Columbia, and he regularly consults with a number of residential treatment programs and foster-care agencies in the Pacific Northwest. He has served as an expert witness in numerous cases involving children with sexual behavior problems, sexual offenders, sexual misconduct, and sexual offender treatment.

Tim currently maintains a private clinical and consultation practice in Bellevue, Washington, where he evaluates and treats children, adolescents, and adults with sexual behavior problems. He is a Certified Sex Offender Treatment Provider, a Licensed Clinical Independent Social Worker, and a Licensed Mental Health Counselor. He is also a clinical member of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA).

Advance Praise for the Fourth Edition

Just as the treatment of adolescents who have sexually abused has evolved dramatically in the past two decades, so too has Pathways. Tim Kahn has always been clear about the need to incorporate new knowledge into practice, and the fourth edition of Pathways does exactly that.
David S. Prescott, LICSW, Clinical Director, Beckett Family of Services, Maine

Tim’s workbooks have been a mainstay of treatment for sexually aggressive youth for 20 years. Every program can benefit from the implicit ideas and explicit exercises and explanations in this new edition.
David L. Burton, Associate Professor, Smith College School for Social Work

Keeping in stride with the warm and encouraging tone of the first three editions of this best-selling book, this latest revision of Pathways provides a current and comprehensive treatment model for youth with sexual behavior problems. Consistent with strength-based methods, Pathways includes a Healthy Living Project for juveniles to work through. Another nice addition is the inclusion of chapter quizzes for treatment providers, allowing them to track a youth’s retention of information and progress in the workbook. Stepping back from the traditional offense-cycle of earlier years, Pathways now helps young people learn more about their offending behaviors by way of looking at the antecedents to their offending and behavioral chains that were present. Overall, this is a wonderful addition to the treatment resources available for working with youth who exhibit sexual behavior problems, and it will undoubtedly improve the quality of services that are being offered to this population.
Brent J. Oneal, Ph.D., Forensic and Clinical Psychologist, Clinical Faculty of Psychiatry, University of Washington Medical School

Comments 7

  1. The information in the manual is great for children dealing with sexual offending. The treatment steps are effective – especially in helping teens develop empathy, integrity, and respectful behavior – and guides them through honesty, reparation, and clarification toward becoming members of a support team to see that sexual abuse does not happen in their communities.

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  2. What are the major differences between the third and fourth editions. We have been implementing treatment with the Third edition for quite some time now, and would like to know what areas need to be modified.

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      For those accustomed to using the third edition, you will find many similarities and some definite differences. One very obvious difference is the addition of a new chapter. This chapter comes at the end of the book, and helps clients plan for a healthy future. The three concluding chapters of the fourth edition are: Steps to Personal Accountability; Completing Treatment by Living a Healthy and Responsible Lifestyle, and Completing my S.T.O.P. Plan. S.T.O.P. stands for Support Through On-going Prevention. Other changes that will be easily observed by therapists and clients are the inclusion of chapter quizzes in the book and a change in how clients sign the pages as they read them. Throughout the book, at random points in each chapter, the client is given new directions for signing the pages. This is to encourage clients to carefully read all the text.

      Less obvious in a causal skim of the book are changes that reflect research and emerging best practices in the field. The fourth edition is focused on strength-based methods that help clients develop healthy and productive lifestyles consistent with the Good Lives Model of rehabilitation. Incorporated into the fourth edition is a culminating assignment called the Healthy Living Project that clients work on throughout their involvement in their treatment programs. Included in this project is a modified version of the victim-empathy scrapbook from the third edition. The S.T.O.P. plan also draws heavily on the Good Lives Model. Chapter 7 is now less about offense cycles and more about understanding the antecedents to a client’s sexual acting out. Instead of cycles, Offense Behavior Chains are used to help youth understand their individualized patterns of behaviors, thoughts, and feelings that may have preceded their inappropriate sexual behavior.

      The fourth edition also reflects changes in society. Additional assignments and stories are provided to help clients cope with a plethora of pornographic stimulation that is increasingly readily available in our society. This edition introduces basic information about sexuality and arousal control that was not addressed until later chapters in earlier editions. Because not all clients in treatment have been charged with criminal acts, and because labels can be very powerful, “sex offenders” has been replaced by “people with sexual behavior problems.” In many places “sex offender” has a very specific legal meaning that may not apply to all clients.

      For more information about the changes in this edition of Pathways, click on the link at the top of this page to read the preface and introduction as well as see the complete table of contents.

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      This workbook is designed to be used as part of a treatment program for youth with sexual behavior problems. The author assumes that a trained mental health counselor with training, knowledge of, and/or experience in working with this population will be leading the program.

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