Compassion Focused Therapy In Forensic Practice

This training on the forensic application of CFT begins with a compassionate understanding of the origins of harmful behavior. It explores how one task of forensic practice is helping clients reimagine their sense of guilt within the context of compassionate motivations (for example, feeling bad about one’s actions rather than about one’s self and building on one’s inherent motivation to live amicably within society). The training next addresses the application of CFT to those whose crimes cause significant harm to others. It guides professionals in considering a trauma-informed approach to case formulation and draws on a compassionate understanding of the difficulties that can emerge from the survival strategies that human beings deploy under extreme adversity. Finally, the training addresses the importance of self-compassion for professional self-care in order to facilitate a compassionate (and sustainable) context for treatment

Cultural Humility in Correctional Assessment and Treatment

Sociocultural factors in the assessment and treatment of individuals who sexually offend are important to examine. Awareness of implicit biases and the cultural competence of the therapist are essential in ethical treatment.

Cultural humility is the ability to maintain an interpersonal stance that is other-oriented in relation to aspects of cultural identity that are more important to the client. Professionals become informed of cultural considerations throughout the assessment and treatment processes.

This workshop assists participants in identifying cultural factors (i.e., racial/ethnicity, language, religion, gender/gender identity, sexual orientation, and disability) during assessment to better inform treatment and risk management recommendations.

Working with Persons with Special Needs in Forensic Settings

The Risk/Need/Responsivity (RNR) framework revolutionized correctional intervention schemes when it was first introduced in the 1990s. Since that time, practitioners and programs alike have worked to ensure that clients in forensic settings really do receive an intensity of intervention that is commensurate with the level of risk they pose (risk principle), while criminogenic needs are specifically targeted (need principle). However, despite gains in the areas of risk and need, the field continues to struggle with the responsivity principle, which encourages service providers to consider the nature of their involvement with clients.

Effective Use of Motivational Interviewing to Engage and Help People with Intimate Partner Violence

Motivational Interviewing has emerged as one of the most critical and effective screening, brief intervention approaches when working with people to promote behavior change, especially in working with intimate partner violence.

Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a person-centered counseling approach that helps individuals explore and resolve ambivalence about change. After an orientation to the underlying spirit, structure, and skills of MI, practical exercises help participants of this training strengthen skills for demonstrating empathy, recognizing and eliciting “change talk”, and rolling with client discord/resistance.

Neurodevelopment Perspectives in Juveniles Who Sexually Offended

Neuropsychology and brain research have identified developmental changes from ages 10 to 25 related to social judgment and reasoning. These changes are associated with the steep increase in delinquent behaviors, accidents, and sexually harmful behaviors during adolescence. Increased size, strength, and sexual maturity are complemented by an increase in the drive and reward centers of the brain and decreased supervision during adolescence. In summary, the workshop presents relevant research regarding brain development and maturity, indicating that psychosocial immaturity in adolescence is a significant risk factor for general delinquency and harmful sexual behaviors and that there are evidence-based methods for assessment and treatment of this factor.

Awakening the Healing Soul: Indigenous Wisdom for Today’s Healers

This workshop explores what modern professionals can learn from traditional healing practices, particularly in helping people recover from trauma and prevent abuse of all kinds. As examples, the workshop focuses on understanding the ethical integration of how placebo, hope, and expectancy effects can be used to assist clients’ ability to participate in treatment as well as understanding transformative processes and their relationship to Maslow’s peak experiences and self-actualization. The workshop also explores the definitions of evidence-based practices and best-practice therapies and how current models do and don’t make use of what ancient knowledge has to offer. Finally, it examines the emerging research into entheogenic medicine and explores possible implications for multi-disciplinary treatment.

Using the Stages of Accomplishment Workbooks to Enhance Effective Practice

This training begins by examining workbooks in general, including their strengths and limitations, and provides guidelines for their use. It offers 13 pointers for how to use workbooks in treatment (for example, considerations for how and when to use assignments and how to check for comprehension and retention of learned material). The training then looks specifically at the Stages of Accomplishment workbooks.

The Good Lives Model with Justice-Involved Women

The Good Lives Model (GLM) has become a popular framework for the treatment of people who have caused harm to others. It is suitable for treatment providers and program administrators working in prison, civil commitment, and community-based settings. Preliminary evidence suggests that, integrated appropriately, the GLM offers potential for improving outcomes of treatment programs that follow a cognitive-behavioral (CBT) approach and that operate according to the Risk, Need, and Responsivity (RNR) principles. For example, research suggests that the GLM’s focus on engaging clients in the treatment process enhances treatment engagement, an important element of program

Assessing Risk of Re-Offending

This session provides a comprehensive overview of the history and development of contemporary risk assessment, as well as the different types of risk assessment tools and the core components of the risk assessment process. The roles of psychopathy, childhood adversity/trauma, and protective factors as related to risk assessment will also be discussed. Utilization of risk assessment with special populations (e.g., females, IDD) is examined, and practical strategies for applying risk assessment within the case/treatment/risk management planning process are provided.

Autism Spectrum Disorders and Criminal Justice

Participants in this online training with Dr. Spence, a world-renown expert in the treatment and assessment of justice-involved people with autism, receive detailed information about ASD along with documented case examples that illustrate the consequences facing ASD clients within the criminal justice system and practical strategies for identifying characteristics of ASD in non-diagnosed clients.  The training includes information about current literature regarding comorbid disorders and disparities in diagnoses among minority groups.