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Stepping Stones – a group therapy programme for the treatment of emotion regulation difficulties in offenders with an intellectual disability
- Authors:
- OXNAM Paul, GARDNER Emma
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Learning Disabilities and Offending Behaviour, 2(4), 2011, pp.146-151.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
This article presents an overview of the Stepping Stones Group Therapy Programme, based in Auckland, New Zealand. The programme is a 42-week programme that addresses the emotion regulation needs of offenders with an intellectual disability. The article discusses the process of implementing the group treatment programme in a secure forensic intellectual disability service. Since the start of the programme, there has been a reduction in both the frequency of aggression and the need for physical and chemical de-escalation. Clients have also demonstrated a greater understanding of their emotional responses and an improved ability to use functional means of managing distress and solving life problems. The article demonstrates that while implementing group therapy programmes for clients with intellectual disabilities and co-morbid emotion regulation difficulties can be challenging, treatment with this group can be successful.
Transformers: a programme for people with an intellectual disability and emotion regulation difficulties
- Authors:
- McWILLIAMS Jenna, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Intellectual Disabilities and Offending Behaviour, 5(4), 2014, pp.178-188.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
Purpose: The Transformers programme is a community-based intervention for people with an intellectual disability (ID) who have emotion regulation difficulties, which can manifest as aggressive and challenging behaviour. The programme was adapted from the Stepping Stones programme. This paper describes the development of the Transformers programme that has been implemented at an ID service, which provides secure and supervised care to people who have been convicted of an imprisonable offence or have high and complex behaviour needs. Design/methodology/approach: The Transformers programme is delivered in weekly sessions over a six-month period in a group format. The focus is on helping group members to develop skills in recognising and understanding negative emotions and learning skills to cope effectively with such emotions. Treatment covers a variety of modules including relaxation, goal setting, chain analysis, emotion recognition, and emotion regulation. Specific strategies used include role-plays, DVDs, and quizzes. Findings: This paper presents the rationale, developmental history, and description of a specific approach to the treatment of emotion regulation difficulties. (Edited publisher abstract)
Including the excluded: high security hospital user perspectives on stigma, discrimination, and recovery
- Authors:
- WILLIAMS Anna, et al
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Forensic Practice, 13(3), August 2011, pp.197-204.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
This paper documents reflections on experiences of stigma and discrimination as described by predominantly black and ethnic minority (BME) service users in a high security hospital. BME service users are reported to have higher drop-out rates and poorer treatment outcomes in non-forensic therapy settings and are over-represented in forensic services. Research suggests that they frequently disengage because their views and feelings are poorly understood. Over a three-year period, 18 forensic patients at an English institution participated in a slow-open therapy group. Thematic analysis was applied to a sample records of group sessions, in which experiences of care, discrimination, hope, despair, and recovery were shared. Group members' reflections on detention, offending and illness were collected. Themes relating to isolation and distance, other barriers to recovery and strategies for coping “against the odds”, are illustrated via anonymised material from the sessions. The authors conclude that service users can, and do, share ideas about possibilities for surviving despite their past. Their comments shed light on barriers to engagement for this potentially marginalised population, and possibilities for improving the capacity of the clinical service to hear their voices on an issue of such importance to their potential for recovery.
Ashworth and after
- Author:
- MELIA Pete
- Journal article citation:
- Mental Health Care, 2(6), February 1999, pp.205-207.
- Publisher:
- Pavilion
Discusses how, despite its troubled past, the Ashworth personality disorders unit has developed a new approach to treatment which the author and his colleagues believe could form the model for future specialist services.