Search results

This paper aims to outline the human capacity for harmfulness and details the role of trauma and adversity in the consolidation of harmful capacities.

The paper is a theoretical overview and offers a rationale for developing more trauma sensitive practices.

The paper proposes compassion focussed therapy (CFT) as an overarching approach to organising interventions.

The paper invites practitioners to develop a holistic approach to forensic interventions incorporating a collaborative formulation and personal objectives for service users.

CFT and trauma informed approaches to working with risk are relatively new in the forensic field. This paper provides a rationale for the further development of such approaches within forensic settings.

This paper aims to argue that to address those factors that contribute to the probability of offending, the origins of such factors should be understood, and interventions that recognise the functional aspects of criminogenic capacities should be developed.

The paper provides a theoretical basis for trauma sensitive practice by providing an evolutionary understanding of human harmfulness alongside a summary of the impact of adversity and abuse on the developing child.

The paper proposes an overarching framework that uses compassion-focused therapy for risk reducing interventions with men who cause harm to others.

This paper encourages forensic practitioners to develop a trauma aware approach to intervention design and delivery. The paper provides an overview of a compassion-focused therapy as approach to intervention that conceptualises criminogenic capacities within a more holistic and functional framework.

Forensic interventions have been slow to assimilate evidence from adverse childhood experience research and have therefore been limited in their ability to address the functional origins of criminogenic need. This paper offers a framework that allows practitioners to address risk while also allowing individuals to process their own trauma and adversity.

This paper aims to provide a description of a trauma sensitive intervention for men who have committed sexual offences. The intervention aims to support men to process and make sense of their own experience of trauma before inviting them to acknowledge their role in causing harm to others. The intervention draws on compassion focussed therapy (CFT) as the overarching therapeutic modality.

As part of a service evaluation changes in routine repeat measures completed by service users were analysed prior to joining the intervention and after 12 months of intervention. Service users were encouraged to provide regular feedback relating to their experience of the intervention at regular intervals. This feedback was collated and patterns were identified collaboratively to understand the context for assessed change in the measures.

Prior to the intervention men reported high levels of shame and limited experiences of guilt (as compassion for others). Early findings indicate that men experience less shame and increased experiences of guilt after 12 months. An increase in insight into risk was also evident. Service user feedback pointed towards a more engaging therapeutic style and highlighted the importance of both a collaborative and trauma sensitive approach.

This is the first evaluative description of forensic CFT for sexual offending. Findings offer insight into potential future directions for forensic interventions with this population.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the diversity of trauma Latin American (LA) refugee children in the USA experience across migration. It proposes ways that practitioners and policymakers can use knowledge from existing research to improve services and respect the rights of LA children.

The paper used a systematic review approach supplemented by additional sources to capture current representative knowledge. The paper uses staged migration and social ecological approaches for organization and discussion.

LA children have historically and contemporarily been exposed to more instances and types of trauma than their non-immigrant US counterparts. LA refugee children have a high need for international protection that is not reflected in the US policy.

Knowledge of possible trauma types among LA children can inform practitioner expectations and prepare them for care management. Officers must be well-trained in both potential trauma-related content and geographic context and have excellent interviewing skills. Lawyers, advocates and judges – the latter who create precedent – play a critical role in children’s cases and should have access to high-quality, geographically and historically relevant and contemporary information.

The levels of violence in Latin America; the rate of child trauma; and the spike in unaccompanied children at the border compels the USA to reassess their positions on (a) refugee caps, (b) asylum screenings and (c) interception-related policies, protocol and practice.

This the first review to specifically focus on empirical trauma research specific to the LA child’s migration experience.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and explain trauma-informed approaches (TIAs) to mental health. It outlines evidence on the link between trauma and mental health, explains the principles of TIAs and their application in mental health and explores the extent to which TIAs are impacting in the UK.

The approach is a conceptual account of TIAs including a consideration of why they are important, what they are and how they can become more prevalent in the UK. This is supported by a narrative overview of literature on effectiveness and a scoping of the spread of TIAs in the UK.

There is strong and growing evidence of a link between trauma and mental health, as well as evidence that the current mental health system can retraumatise trauma survivors. There is also emerging evidence that trauma-informed systems are effective and can benefit staff and trauma survivors. Whilst TIAs are spreading beyond the USA where they developed, they have made little impact in the UK. The reasons for this are explored and ways of overcoming barriers to implementation discussed.

This paper – authored by trauma survivors and staff – describes an innovative approach to mental health service provision that, it is argued, could have immense benefits for staff and service users alike.

This paper aims to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on a prison-based therapeutic community (TC).

The paper takes the form of a case study where the authors reflect on their current practice, using the findings of research on social isolation and the overarching TC principles to explore the effect of the pandemic on the TC at HMP Grendon. The authors consider how the residents and staff adjusted to the change as the parameters changed when the social distancing rules were imposed and how they adapted to the prolonged break to therapy. Sections in the paper were written by a resident and an operational member of staff. The authors conclude with their thoughts on how to manage the consequences the lockdown has brought and start to think about what returning to “normality” might mean.

The paper describes the adjustments made by the residents and staff as the UK Government imposed the lockdown. The authors, including a resident and an operational member of staff comment on the psychological and practical impact these adjustments had. The thought is given to the idea of “recovery”, returning to “normality” and how this study can be best managed once restrictions are lifted.

At the time of writing, there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 at HMP Grendon. The measures and commitment from all staff and residents in the prison to keep the prison environment safe may in part account for this. This paper explores the effects of lockdown on the emotional environment in a TC and highlights the consequences that social isolation can have on any individual. To the authors’ knowledge, there is currently no research undertaken on the impact of lockdown/social isolation on a TC. This research would be useful, as the authors postulate from reflections on current practice that the effects of the lockdown will be greater in a social therapy environment.

HMP Grendon started in 1962, as this time there have been no significant events that have meant the suspension of therapy for such a sustained period. It is, therefore, important that the impact of such is considered and reflected upon.

The use of mindfulness interventions (MIs) as means to manage unwanted or undesirable affect and behaviour has increased in popularity recently. This has resulted in the trial of MIs as a means to benefit well-being within prisons, with some intention of reducing recidivism. This study aims to examine current research regarding the use of MIs within prisons.

A total of 14 studies were manually selected for review inclusion according to their determined eligibility. All studies were required to have taken place in a prison and to include an explicit mindfulness intervention, including mindfulness theory and practice.

Most interventions reviewed demonstrated success, particularly when tailored to the unique needs of a prison environment. Positive changes reported included improvements in participant mental health symptoms, as well as reduced stress and increased mindfulness skills. Some preliminary evidence was provided to indicate the potential longevity of some of these benefits. This review further highlighted some significant questions regarding the generalisability of the proposed suitability of MIs within prison environments including practical delivery constraints and the lack of acknowledgment of the unique challenges and circumstances faced by prisoners.

The findings of this review show positive potential for the use of MIs within prison populations, where these are well-linked to mindfulness theory and to the needs of inmates. The review also suggest that MIs should be investigated thoroughly, examining potential negative implications alongside positive changes. There needs to be further review of the role of MIs within prison populations to ensure their suitability in the custodial environment.

MIs are somewhat inflated in terms of predicted outcomes and sometimes applied to potentially unsuitable groups. A significant gap within the literature also persists regarding potentially negative implications associated with MIs, particularly within unique prison populations. Prison treatment programmes should be developed with careful consideration of unique prisoner needs in comparison to a general population.

This paper advances what is known about emotional experiences and challenges when researching work-caused trauma in organisations and illustrates learning for researchers of work-related trauma. Viewing vulnerability as strength could be conceived as an oxymoron. The paper explains how vulnerability can lead to strength for researchers/participants and focuses on researcher reflexivity in relation to one interview with a woman leader in a small-scale qualitative study.

The research protocols of the qualitative study are outlined: pre-interview briefings, participant journaling and semi-structured interviews. Researcher reflexivity, following Hibbert's (2021) four levels of reflexive practice (embodied, emotional, rational and relational), is applied to an interview with a woman leader.

The paper illustrates how research design and recognising vulnerability as strength facilitates considerable relational work and emotional experiences. Researcher reflexivity conveys impact of work-caused trauma on participants and researchers. The paper advances understandings of vulnerability as strength in practice, emotional experiences and challenges of work-caused trauma research.

In this paper, a single case of researcher reflexivity is considered.

There are practical implications for researcher relationships with participants; demonstrating emotional awareness; responding to traumatic stories, participant distress and impact on the researcher; issues of vicarious/secondary traumatic stress; having safe psychological systems; scaffolding a process which recognises vulnerability as strength and becoming personally and methodologically vulnerable; risk of embodied and emotional impact; commitment to reflexivity and levels of reflexive practice.

There is lack of researcher reflexive accounts of practice when studying trauma. Few scholars suggest ways to support researchers in challenging and difficult research. There is silence in research exploring leaders' experiences of work-caused trauma. This paper provides a reflexive account in practice from a unique study of women leaders' experiences of work-caused trauma.

Specifically, the authors discuss three challenges that researchers—especially graduate students—often face: (1) access to adequate material and guidance for researchers; (2) the internal and external strains researchers may face, and (3) the limited conceptualization of research on sensitive topics or vulnerable populations. Although these three challenges may be present for many graduate students and junior scholars, it is important to acknowledge that scholars face many challenges beyond the ones discussed in this note.

This note will specifically address challenges that arise for graduate students and junior scholars, and we suggest possible strategies to navigate this type of research.

The authors encourage comprehensive approaches taken by institutions, enacted via advocacy from the field. Professional organizations can create a valuable, ongoing forum for such discussions by including the topic of researcher trauma within workshops, discussion sessions, conference tracks, journals, and newsletters. Second, the topic of researcher trauma must be introduced early and often in graduate training, including planned meaningful coverage in methodology courses, textbooks, and professional training. Third, researchers at all levels should carefully reflect on how their own line of inquiry and their routine research practices could impart trauma.

While ethical principles center on protecting human research participants, risks of trauma experienced by researchers are not consistently addressed in the context of methodological training or human-subjects internal review board and ethics committees' consideration. Although many researchers engage in work that can cause the researcher trauma, few studies address the experiences of researchers in depth, especially the experiences of graduate students or junior scholars.

The authors speculate only about relatively short-term advances in special education for students with emotional and behavioral disorders. Speculation is confined to the overlapping areas of core values, technologies, neuroscience, and law/policy. In core values, the authors hope to see a resurgence of commitment to special, effective instruction and to practice aligned with scientific evidence. It is hoped that technologies will advance practices in instruction, improve the uses of artificial intelligence in teacher training and teaching, and encourage the appropriate use of artificial reproduction to avoid disorders. Neuroscience, it is hoped, will yield more reliable and helpful classification of disorders, better and more useful imaging, and more effective treatment of a variety of emotional, behavioral, and academic problems. In law and policy, the authors hope the Supreme Court's Endrew case will result in greater focus on challenging, appropriate education. Law and policy should also encourage trauma sensitivity in education, make whole-school approaches to trauma sensitivity the priority, and avoid universal trauma screening. Students' and families' legitimate interests in confidentiality and data privacy should be protected in newly constructed information-sharing infrastructures.