Abstract
In 2019, the field of correctional and forensic psychology sadly lost a key and influential figure with the passing of Dr. J. Stephen Wormith. As a critical proponent and pioneer of the risk-need-responsivity or RNR model (Andrews & Bonta, 1994-2010; Bonta & Andrews, 2017), Wormith was an advocate for creative, novel, and effective approaches for the assessment, treatment, and management of justice-involved clients (JICs)—this included highly practical resources such as Tafrate et al.’s (2018) CBT with Justice-Involved Clients. Prior to his passing, Wormith had in fact nominated the triumvirate of authors for receipt of the Significant Contribution Award from the Criminal Justice Section of the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) for the present work reviewed here. And deservedly, the authorship trio were successful and received this distinction in May 2019, at the 4th North American Correctional and Criminal Justice Psychology Conference (N4) coinciding with the annual CPA convention in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. There is very good reason why this book was so nominated and received this distinction. CBT with Justice-Involved Clients is an immensely comprehensive, practical, and accessible resource for criminal justice practitioners. We would absolutely use this treatment planner in our intervention work with JICs and our clinical training activities in the field and here’s why.
This treatment planner is written by an esteemed group of seasoned scientist practitioners, each of whom has decades of clinical and research experience working with correctional populations, and who are versed at translating theory and research into practice. This work is grounded in the RNR model and areas for assessment and intervention are broadly organized around the seven dynamic domains of the Central Eight (i.e., antisocial attitudes, associates, and personality pattern, employment/education, family/martial, leisure/recreation, drug and alcohol). Per the risk principle (i.e., recidivism can be predicted and service intensity should be matched to risk level), the book advocates for a structured assessment of risk and need, with an annotated list of reputable clinician administered and self-report tools in an appendix. Per the need principle, the book prioritizes risk relevant areas for assessment and intervention, with interventions featuring the development of prosocial thinking, behavioral, and lifestyle skills to be gradually cultivated and incorporated into the client’s day-to-day living and relationships. And per the responsivity principle, the book is grounded in a humane, firm but fair, empathic approach to service delivery, organized around cognitive behavioral methods of change (general responsivity) and the flexibility, spontaneity, and sensitivity necessary to engage what is often a challenging, slow-to-trust, slow-to-engage population (specific responsivity). The book is predicated on the empirically supported RNR notions that JICs can and do make stable prosocial life changes with effectively delivered evidence informed interventions.
The book accomplishes this across six sections and 13 chapters. Part I. Forensic Basics (two chapters), provides an overview of some of the nuts and bolts of practice considerations working with JICs. Part II. Engagement (two chapters) provides a compassionate, hard-headed approach for effectively engaging, motivating, and goal setting with JICs. Part III. Assessment, Case Formulation, and Focus (three chapters), covers approaches to clinical interviewing and information gathering to assess criminogenic domains to be prioritized in treatment, integrating assessment data to inform case formulation and treatment planning, and developing a treatment language with clientele. Part IV. Detailed Treatment Plans for Criminogenic Thinking and Antisocial Orientation (two chapters), focuses interventions around identifying and restructuring risky, criminogenic thinking and criminal self-concept (and their links to criminal behavior), with more realistic, alternative, and helpful modes of thinking. Part V. Detailed Treatment Plans for Harmful Lifestyle Patterns (three chapters) encompasses a set of practical cognitive and behavioral interventions critical to successful reintegration that include developing new leisure routines, getting (and maintaining) a job with a criminal record (and/or the requisite preparation and upgrading), strengthening family dynamics, altering relationships (particularly criminal peer ties), managing substance use, and learning to effectively manage and contain destructive anger. Finally, Part VI. Practice Management (one chapter) is a single chapter devoted to the critical practice of paperwork, including writing effective treatment notes, assessment and treatment plan reports, and treatment summaries.
Many edited works exist on evidence informed treatment of criminal justice populations, which are valuable contributions to the field, but often tend to be heavily research based and outweigh clinical application. The biggest strength of this treatment planner, however, is that it is enormously practical and entirely applied. Each chapter contains helpful scripts, practice exercises, and workbook forms for structuring sessions and delivering interventions—all of which are presented in light of helpful case examples. The work is structured without being too prescriptive, and it encourages flexible application across clients and presenting concerns. For this reason, the book would be very well suited for frontline practitioners in different human service delivery professions (e.g., probation/parole officer, correctional program facilitator, psychologist, therapist), training backgrounds (e.g., social work, psychology, psychiatry, nursing, criminal justice), or career stage.
A further set of strengths are its balance, accessibility, and tone. Scholarly, yet light, and evidence informed, the book is clearly written and engaging, with minimal jargon, and with its primer it is well suited to entry level practitioners, and yet with the range of materials and interventions is suited to frontline professionals at all experience levels. The work also takes on a respectful, humanizing tone as evident in its use of person first language (e.g., “justice-involved client” vs. “offender” or “inmate”), viewing correctional clients as people first, who have made mistakes in life, have skill deficits, and often come from adversity, but who are redeemable and capable of developing new repertoires and becoming more effective, prosocial versions of themselves. Further, the book is comprehensive in its coverage, yet it is not dense and encyclopedic, and the principles, practices, and exercises can be generalized cross client groups and a number of antisocial behavioral concerns (e.g., property crime, drug offenses, crimes of violence such as assault and robbery). Finally, this is also one of the few resources to include an accessible section and resources on forensic case conceptualization, which also makes it a valuable training resource for supervisors in the field working with trainees across professions.
Even the strongest works, however, cannot be all things. First, while its generality and flexibility of application permit its use across client groups, the treatment planner would likely need to be supplemented for intervention with some clients with certain specific offense patterns (e.g., sexual offending, intimate partner violence) or certain domains of risk and need requiring intervention (e.g., sexual deviance, severe mental illness). Second, the work does not venture into specifics on service delivery to ethnocultural minorities (e.g., Black, Hispanic, Indigenous persons), such as culturally specific augmentations to services (e.g., via specific responsivity) or the personnel, stakeholders, and communities who may be engaged in the context of service delivery to diverse groups; evidence for the cross cultural applicability of RNR and the Central Eight, notwithstanding (e.g., Gutierrez et al., 2013; Olver et al., 2014). Finally, although the work does well to apply the assessment, approaches to case planning, and interventions to men and women (including a highly useful female case example with gender specific issues integrated throughout the treatment planner), the work may have been strengthened further by more explicit inclusion of gendered considerations in assessment, case conceptualization, and intervention with justice-involved women (e.g., gender salient needs that may be criminogenic such as parenting, stress, abusive relationships).
In all, this treatment planner is a valuable resource and important contribution to the field of correctional and forensic psychology. We anticipate frontline practitioners will enjoy this as a practical, handy, and trustworthy resource to help their JICs decrease recidivism, improve cooperation with community supervision and correctional planning, and transition to more prosocial living to promote community safety and client wellbeing.
