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FORUM on Corrections Research
Training Staff to Deal More Effectively with Sex Offenders
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Since sex offenders constitute approximately 15% of the Canadian federal inmate population, there is a
critical need for a training strategy to improve management of sex offenders. The conclusions and
recommendations of the Pepino enquiry, the Working Group on Mental Health and the recent WP(1) Group
Needs Analysis also underlined the importance and necessity of training staff to deal more effectively
with sex offenders. Following a decision by the Correctional Service of Canada's Executive Committee, a National Steering Committee on the Management and Treatment of Sexual Offenders was formed to oversee and co-ordinate development of the training program. This committee was made up of representatives from the Solicitor General Secretariat, the National Parole Board and, from the Correctional Service of Canada, Health Care Services, Staff Training and Development, Research and Statistics, Offender Management and the Community Release Programs and Support Services Division. A comprehensive training strategy for dealing with sex offenders was the outcome of the committee's efforts. In developing the training program, the committee sought the professional services of Dr. Howard Barbaree, a nationally and internationally recognized expert on the treatment of sex offenders. It also drew on the work of Dr. William Pithers and Dr. Linda Beal, who developed a sex offender training package based on the relapse-prevention model for probation and parole officers of the State of Vermont's Department of Corrections. Based on these consultations, the relapse-prevention model was chosen as the approach to manage the Correctional Service of Canada's sex offenders. It became an integral part of the training program. Relapse prevention is a structured treatment and supervision model which is applied to sex offenders during incarceration and after their release into the community. The model was originally developed for managing substance abuse. The model recognizes that substance abusers have an ongoing risk of relapsing, that is, of returning to the patterns of behaviour that caused them to abuse drugs or alcohol. Relapse prevention teaches offenders self-management skills, methods of controlling impulses and ways to develop strategies for avoiding or coping effectively with problem situations. In 1983, Dr. Pithers, of the Vermont Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Sexual Abuse at the Department of Corrections in Waterbury, Vermont, and his colleagues, Marques, Gibat and Marlatt, modified the relapse-prevention model for use with sex offenders. Dr. Pithers and his associates are pioneers in the field. They have generously given permission for the Correctional Service of Canada to draw upon their work and adapt it to fit the Canadian situation.(2) The Sex Offender Training Program The Correctional Service of Canada's sex offender training program is primarily designed to increase the awareness of staff who evaluate, manage and treat sex offenders and to provide them with more tools for dealing with the special needs of these offenders while ensuring continuity between the penitentiary and the community. The program is divided into two separate units. Unit I - An Introduction to the Assessment, Treatment and Management of the Sex Offender During this part of the training program, an overview of sex offending is given. Correctional workers are prepared and sensitized to working with sexually abusive individuals. The curriculum is designed to:
The units are subdivided into modules to allow flexible delivery of the program while ensuring that the needs of the different correctional occupational groups are met. Implementation The training package was successfully piloted in the Ontario region during January 1991. The overall results were extremely encouraging, with many correctional officers, case managers and psychologists impressed with the way this approach assists them in their dealings with sex offenders. The training program includes a train-the-trainers component, a five day workshop on sex offenders offered to trainers. It is critical, if the content of the modules is to be properly delivered, that trainers who have certain qualities and skills are selected. The trainers selected in the five regions of the Correctional Service of Canada were chosen mainly because of their good presentation skills, their vast experience in dealing first-hand with sex offenders and their familiarity with the typologies and dynamics of sexual deviance. Our experience to date certainly supports the need to carry on with this training project. The long-term objective is to provide all correctional staff with a general knowledge of sex offenders by the end of the 1993-94 fiscal year. All case management officers and other professional groups who directly manage sex offenders will receive more thorough training. Consensus among professionals working in the field as to which factors best predict sex offender recidivism has not yet been reached. Available literature is in the infancy stage, and much work remains to be done. Definitive statements about risk assessment, therefore, cannot be made. At the same time, however, it is vitally important that we use what we do know as creatively and actively as possible. Victims of sex offences, especially future victims, cannot wait for us to perfect our knowledge and techniques. Being proactive, and doing the best we can at the moment, offer the most hope for victims and are the best ways to expand our knowledge and skills. Accordingly, we are training our staff to apply the relapseprevention model, now considered to be the most effective management program for sex offenders. (1)The WP occupational group includes all case managers in the Correctional Service of Canada. (2)For more information about the work of Dr. Pithers and his colleagues, we recommend a paper entitled "Relapse Prevention: A Method for Enhancing Behavioral Self Management and External Supervision of the Sexual Aggressor" by WD. Pithers, G.F. Cumming, L.S. Beal, W Young and R. Turner. This article appears in Sex Offenders: Issues in Treatment, edited by B. Schwartz and published in 1989 by the National Institute of Corrections. See also Dr. Pithers' article in the last issue of FORUM. |
