|
|
Developing The Team In Work With The
Sex Offender:
A Treater's Point of View
by Marcia Rogers, LCSW
Work with sex offenders, adults and adolescents, particularly in
the community, can be difficult as well as challenging. Those of
us who work in the field know that our primary responsibility is
to the safety and protection of the community while we strive to
rehabilitate the offender.
It is important to understand that there is a team that has responsibility
for the work with this population and while at varying points in
the process the team members change, each member has an essential
role. These roles need to be clearly delineated with the working
partners so that the safety of the community remains the priority
for the entire team.
As a clinician, I understand that my role is complicated because
I must both set specific limits related to the therapy and the court
orders and provide sex offender specific treatment. The degree to
which this occurs for the outpatient clinician as opposed to the
clinician working with a community residential population may vary
in part, based, hopefully, on the risk level of the offender. Many
clinicians do not understand the degree to which they must set limits
when working with the offender population. However, this is absolutely
an essential component of successful treatment
For example, a therapist providing an outpatient group for offenders
must not only establish clear boundaries around the behaviors acceptable
for the group, such as coming to group sober and taking bathroom/
cigarette breaks before and after group, but must also set the tone
for the milieu of the group. This includes questioning cognitive
distortions that may be presented, such as, "I couldn't get
to group on time because my son's baseball practice got out late
or etc..." or "I went to the house to change the locks
because my wife thought someone tried to break in during the night
and I didn't have time to get your permission before I went over
there because she was so scared and it was so urgent." The
second distortion listed here moves into the area more likely known
by the therapist than the PO.; that is, violations of court orders
or if this issue is not addressed in the court order, it may be
addressed in your own program rules about "contact" with
family/victims.
The role of the PO. is that of the "heavier heavy," the
representative established by society and the court to assure everyone
the expectations, rules, and laws are being consistently followed.
The Probation officer is there to give support in the form of pats
on the back, but much more importantly, in the form of folding the
lineThe Probation Officer, or Parole Officer, verifies the sex offender
is meeting all of his/her requirements and when this does not occur,
a warning may be given, but ultimately, consequences must follow,
such research conducted today ends up published in obscure journals
where it is seldom read by most practitioners in the field, let
alone other professionals, or the lay public. In order to be useful,
research must be accessible and comprehensible.
Fourth, in order to truly achieve accountability in the field, clinical
practice should follow, not precede, empirically validated theory.
Until that happens, we will justifiably be subject to the criticism
that our clinical efforts and public policy recommendations are
guided as much by self-interest as public interest.
|
