focus on Bowenian Family Systems?

Q/A – Correctional Counselling

Q/A – Correctional Counselling

By (Writer’s Name)

Course

Professor

Name of the Institute

December 1, 2018

1. If a parolee with a heroin addiction relapsed, would he or she be able to approach his or her parole agent for assistance without fear of being locked up? Would a person with a drug problem but not a part of the criminal justice system be able to share relapse behavior with his or her counselor without fear of incarceration?

The relationship b/w an offender and correctional counsellor is a purely therapeutic one, it's more than law enforcers and more of kind a mentor, a person who guides them, a person who would support them or would be their go to plug for any kind of problem. Failing is a part of the correctional process and if an offender falls or fails to comply with a treatment, the counselor should give them enough space to make amends, come back from their shortcomings, in fact even support them to enable them to reach a destination where they no longer have to suffer relapses. An offender should be comfortable with the counsellor to share whatever they want, without the fear of being judged or prosecuted for it. The counsellor should always make themselves available to a further extent than a normal practitioner in the legal space.

2. Can a criminal justice counselor successfully treat offenders? What are the arguments for and against this position?

The role of criminal justice offenders includes assessment of a client’s need, running a series of checks and evaluations to recognize their high-level needs and requirements. After running these evaluations and recognizing the issues faced by the offender, client, a correctional officer recommends and prescribes treatment plans and therapies for the offender. After making these recommendations, the role of case manager is to connect the client to providers of these services and make sure all involved departments and institutions coordinate and collaborate to ensure all needs are addressed and the client is truly connected before heading back to the society. Criminal Justice offenders can well and truly correct offenders but not as a single unit. The entire justice system has to collaborate to ensure the correction of each individual under consideration. It’s is not the responsibility of a case manager, correctional counsellor to ensure correction of an offender alone, they are part of the system who link up offenders to the services they need (Gendreau, P., Goggin, C., French, S., & Smith, P. 2006).

3. How have the criminal justice counseling concepts of protection of society, rhetoric, supervision, and communication changed over the years?

Over the years, the criminal justice system has become more compassionate, more empathetic and friendlier towards the offenders. Often offenders were not given benefits of doubt, spaces to express themselves, to evolve and make corrections. The offenders were not provided liaisons to guide them through the correction process. But now things have changed, with case managers and correctional counsellors, offenders are given big fat chance to correct themselves and transition back into the society, learn trade, vocational skills and other activities which makes it easier for them to integrate back into society. At one time everyone who committed an offence was thought to be bad, corrupted and without morals, it was not repairable. But now things have changed, circumstances come into play, Courts get to decide if they are going to ponder over factors of an individual’s life before deciding their fate forever and punishing them for in a way they did not deserve,

4. How are criminal justice counseling and therapy similar? How are they different?

Criminal justice counselors help clients back to their feet and transitions back into the real world, their prime responsibility is to oversee the transition and make sure it goes as smooth a possible and that the offender returns back to the society completely corrected, not posing a threat to them self or the society. In order to execute their duties, case managers are required to link up offender with therapies they require to be corrected, for instance a client facing drug abuse problems may have to go through substance abuse recovery programs.

This is where therapists come in, their job is to provide specific treatment to the client that’s the require to recover. Therapists are field specialists, who hold expertise in the fields that's known to them for mental health therapy, a psychologist may be advised, similarly for drug abuse, such an expert may be prescribed who holds expertise in enabling people recover from drug related problems. Therapist provided the actual treatment, counsellors link offenders to it.

5. How can a criminal justice counselor identify transference? How should criminal justice counselors handle transference? What types of problems might criminal justice counselors encounter if transference is not identified?

Transference is the situation where the expectations, desires and feelings of a person are directly applied to the other person. for example, a person may feel kindly towards an elderly person for no other reason that they remind them of their parent or other relative of the same age. Transference plays a big role in theuraptic settings where person in the setting may develop certain feelings for the therapist or counselor and may open to them in ways like no other. Transference can be either positive or negative and, in both conditions, can either benefit therapy or create hinderance in providing treatment. Transference can cause determent in some cases and the offender if associates the therapist to someone they might never open up to, it may cause inaccuracies in the diagnose, similarly if the offender opens up to a certain person only, and they are truly honest with the person, considering them a benevolent, it may help with therapy like nothing other. Negative transference may cause person under therapy to act out in negative ways, making it uneasy for both her therapist and the offender.

However, transference is still necessary, without positive transference, the offender may never blurt out what's in their head, hampering the recovery program. in case there's no transference, the therapist should simulate his role to touch a nerve that triggers it for the offender in a positive way.

6. What is criminal justice counselor burnout? How does criminal justice counselor burnout manifest itself? What can the criminal justice counselor do to prevent burnout?

Counsellors in correctional settings are dealing with offenders on a daily basis, often offenders who may be reluctant to change. Often this leads up to build up of frustration in cases where it is becoming difficult in building up situations that is helpful for all parties. Sometimes it's the institutions and not offenders who are not cooperating and seeing the counsellor’s point of view, again building up frustration for them. Dealing with so many departments and entities, end up in chronic frustration, which ends up as burn out for the counsellor. The job for a counselor in correctional setting is highly sensitive and critical, often a wrong decision may destroy life of an individual or, multiple lives if an uncorrected offender returns back to the society (Lewandowski, 2003).

To avoid burn out, often it is advised to take breaks and for the counsellor to chill out, finding the time to decompress is paramount when trying to avoid burnout and fatigue. Another thing that can help counter burn out is alone time, where counsellors can self-reflect or meditate, free from any worldly thoughts and processes. Maintaining mental l health is really important for the career of a correctional counsellor.

7. What are some of the problems that arise from labeling some types of criminal justice counselors’ para- professionals?

Often to save costs and budget when running correctional facilities, trustable members of the community volunteer to provide care management or correctional counsellor services. Even though they are volunteering, they are given proper training, education ahead of assigning of this important duty. They are granted license to practice in this legal capacity and should be treated with enough confidence to let them practice in ways comfortable to them.

Many institutes and entities in the justice system refer to individuals as such as para professionals which is a huge confidence downer, not only for the counsellors themselves but for all entities interacting with the counsellor including the offender them self who may never feel safe or properly attended. Putting your entire trust in individuals is really essential to enable them to perform efficiently in the system. Trust such that families of the offender, institutions that are going to provide treatment and the institutions that are going to grant the permission to provide the treatment never disrespect or demean the counselor.

8. What are some of the factors that might make forced treatment contribute to internalized change in the offender?

Mental health is more than just absence of mental illnesses, it is the mental state that allows individuals to flourish, prosper and live their best life. But such is not for inmates or offenders, who cooped up for long are not in best of mental states, even if not entirely mentally sick. Every human experience good times and down times and ability to cope negative effects dictates who they’re going to live their life. For inmates the adaption to the confined rooms is hard to adjust to and most fail to adapt to the new negatives of the system they are sentenced to. The psychological effects of incarceration cannot be ignored, they exist and they change the mental phycology of an individual. Nobody returns from prison as they same person they once were. Offenders when released in this state, will mold when treated, the forced treatment when applied on these offenders. The high stakes and hypervigilance around them force offenders to change and adapt to surrounding and when an ideology is forced upon it, the effects are prominent. (Latessa, E. J., Cullen, F. T., & Gendreau, P. 2002).

References

· Gendreau, P., Goggin, C., French, S., & Smith, P. (2006). Practicing psychology in correctional

settings. In I. B. Weiner & A. K. Hess

· Minor, W. W. (1981). The neutralization of criminal offense. Criminology, 18, 103–120.

Schrink, J., & Hamm, M. S. (1989). Misconceptions concerning correctional counseling. Journal

of Offender Counseling Services and Rehabilitation, 14, 133–147.

· Latessa, E. J., Cullen, F. T., & Gendreau, P. (2002). Beyond correctional quackery—Professional-

ism and the possibility of effective treatment. Federal Probation, 66, 3–49.