Soaking it all up: Programme facilitators
from Intervention Services intent on their training
Since July last year, staff have been training to deliver a new Medium Intensity Rehabilitation Programme (MIRP) for offenders in prisons and on communitybased sentences.
The programme, which is approximately 140 hours long, is designed for offenders at medium risk of re-offending, and incorporates the latest overseas research.
The programme is already up and runnning, with the first offenders beginning it in September 2006 and graduating in December 2006.
Staff of Corrections Intervention Services (IS), supported by psychologists from the Psychological Service, are undergoing intensive training in group work with offenders in order to deliver the programme.
Over the next few months all of the 80 or so IS facilitators will have completed their training and will be delivering the new programme throughout the country. By the middle of the year it will be running in all prison regions, and main centres in the community.
Meanwhile, design work is nearing completion on an intensive 300-hour programme which will be trialled at a new unit at Waikeria Prison in Waikato from April. This Special Treatment Unit Rehabilitation Programme is for higher risk offenders, and, following the trial, two further units will be set up in other prisons next year.
These new programmes replace current 100-hour programmes that are being phased out. The new programmes incorporate the best elements of the previous suite, but are designed to more specifically match the needs of the offender population.
A design team of four, which includes Senior Psychologist Lucy King, has developed MIRP over the past 18 months, and is currently writing the detailed sessions for the high intensity programme.
Ken McMaster training the
programme facilitators.
A significant innovation is the use of a “Socratic” therapeutic approach. Recent research, particularly in Canada and the United Kingdom, has demonstrated the importance of therapists guiding the treatment process by the creative questioning of participants. This assists them to reach conclusions for themselves, rather than “instructing” them about how to behave.
“The Socratic method assists offenders to critically examine their own thinking and behaviour patterns,” says Director of Corrections Psychological Service David Riley.
He says that another innovation in the new approach, which has proved effective in overseas jurisdictions, is a better matching of the programme length with the risk level of the offender.
“It has now become clear from a good deal of research that we need to increase the intensity of our programmes, and the new medium intensity programme is almost twice as long as Straight Thinking, which it replaced,” he says.
MIRP will be delivered over a 13-week period in two-and-a-half hour sessions. Sessions will be held four or five times a week for groups of up to 10 offenders.
The goal is to assist offenders to understand their offending, what precipitates it, and the skills needed to prevent a relapse back into a life of crime.
The specific components of the new programmes cover:
“In effect, these programmes are a process of ‘guided discovery’, where offenders learn new skills to implement change in their lives - for example, managing relationships without resorting to alcohol and drug abuse,” David says.
“The more comprehensive programmes confront offenders with their maladaptive behaviour and related problems,” he says.
“Ultimately, the intensive group therapy experience coupled with individual assistance will help offenders to change their attitudes and behaviour.”
Intervention Services Manager Eve McMahon says that following the initial training, programme facilitators will continue to develop their skills in delivering the programme “with ongoing professional and cultural supervision”, including the support provided by psychologists from the Psychological Service.
Almost 1200 prisoners and offenders in the community will do programmes delivered by Corrections Intervention Services to address aspects of their offending in the financial year to June 30, 2007.
These include:
High risk offenders may also be seen individually by Corrections psychologists.
In addition:
Offenders will also spend up to 110,000 hours participating in community-based sex offender and domestic violence programmes, and Ministry of Healthfunded alcohol and drug programmes.
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ISSN 1178-8453