This is Probation and Parole Week. Each day the Caymanian Compass will carry an article explaining what Cayman Islands Department of Probation and Aftercare does.
The group work approach in the Department of Probation and Aftercare provides another modality in the strategy to provide a social work intervention in the lives of clients.
The group-work methodology is an effective and proven method of working with various types of offenders and has the advantage of providing an intervention for an optimal number of persons while reducing financial and human resource cost.
Additionally, group-work places considerable emphasis on teamwork, peer learning and pursuit of common objectives and such a medium has been effective in work with persons who have suffered from social stigma, alienation, low self esteem and an inability to maintain appropriate relationships.
The group work programme uses a cognitive behavioural approach. The emphasis is on changing behaviour by providing structured learning experiences that challenges how values, beliefs, perceptions and judgement have contributed to underdeveloped or faulty thinking skills.
In this regard, the three major classes of cognitive behaviour therapy – cognitive restructuring, coping skills therapies and problem solving tend to form the basis for the group work programmes.
The style adopted in the group is focussed on task and process and de-emphasises the facilitator’s role as teacher. Instead the role is to facilitate interactions between group members using the experiential learning cycle approach to stimulate discussion that will create an environment that promotes confrontation in a non-aggressive manner while promoting the individual’s responsibility for the change process.
Synopsis of group-work programmes
Anger management
The Anger Management programme is based on the idea of learning about what happens when one experiences anger.
The major goal of the programme is to provide participants with information about the definition and expression of anger and to improve anger management techniques that can help to manage anger effectively.
The areas of focus include: defining anger as being normal, consequences for loss of control, the identification of triggers, stages of the anger experience and methods for coping with anger. The programme consists of 10 sessions once per week.
Domestic violence intervention programme
The Domestic Violence Intervention Programme Stopping the Violence is a 32-session group that is geared toward the treatment of men who have perpetrated acts of violence in the domestic situation.
The programme promotes zero tolerance toward abuse and aims for the elimination of violence in the lives of the participants, spouse/partners and their children.
The programme recognises that conflict can sometimes become a part of the intimate partner relationship. However, it acknowledges that participants have a choice in how they react to feelings of hurt, disappointment or confrontation. Consequently, if one uses violence, threats, force, or attempt to impose one’s will on another then that constitutes acts of abuse.
The DVIP emerged in 2004 as a response to the many cases of domestic abuse seen in the Court system. The programme attempts not only to treat domestic violence as a legal issue, but also a social issue that impacts on the various social systems in society.
The DVIP stresses the importance of perpetrators not minimizing their action or blaming their victims for their acts of violence. It stresses that perpetrators must confront the fact that many of the incidents of violence are firmly rooted in the socio-cultural practices, the ways that men and women have been socialized into gender roles, beliefs about power and control as well as issues around unequal social, economic, and political arrangements in the society.
Since 2005 more than 40 participants have completed this programme.
Time to change
The Time to Change programme is a 15-session group that is geared toward the treatment of clients who have been involved in the Criminal Justice System for a significant period of time and who have been convicted on various offences on several occasions. The group has been conducted in the prison as well in the community.
The focus of the group is not primarily therapeutic. However, there is a significant amount of focus on self and exploration of criminal history, of social background history as well as the perceived causal factors behind the commission of initial offences.
The content of the group is primarily focussed around three major aspects of change: Stop, think, change.
The group task and process is therefore structured around these three themes and the initial challenge is for participants to explore self, offending behaviours, as well as accepting responsibility for their offending and the consequences of their actions.
The second phase then involves an exploration of ‘who is in control’ and includes an analysis of triggers to offending, conflict resolution skills as well as an examination of potential community support systems. The final phase is built around the change process and specifically examines the motivation and inputs required for change.
Stress management
The Stress Management Programme is an eight-session interactive group that has been designed primarily for the Prison, but has also been structured in such a way that it can be offered in the community. The group membership is targeted to people 17 years and older. Sessions are conducted once per week for two hours.
The group uses a closed format, which implies that no new participants can enter the group once it has started. The focus of the group is generally on assisting participants to identify external and internal stressors, understanding the effects of stress on the body as well as on enhancing coping techniques in response to stress.
Structured relapse prevention
The Structured Relapse Prevention Group is designed specifically for people being supervised in the community on Parole Licences or Probation Orders who have identified significant problems with illegal drug use. The programme is therefore aimed at providing additional support and an opportunity for participants to share experiences and explore methods of coping with their addiction.
Focus is primarily on supporting the client’s efforts at abstinence from substance abuse and challenging those behavioural patterns that would eventually lead to the commission of criminal offences.
Parole group
The Parole Group is designed specifically for people being supervised in the community on parole licences.
The group was conceptualised as a means of providing parolees with an opportunity to provide support and to interact with each other in a structured environment.
The group meetings are conducted once per month with parolees taking responsibility for conducting the sessions and developing the agenda. The focus is primarily on initiating new parolees and dealing with those issues and challenges that might cause other persons to revert to other patterns of behaviour that would eventually lead to re-offending.
Enhancing coping strategies
The goal of this four session programme is to assist participants to master coping strategies by frequent practise and cognitive restructuring. This is a follow-up group to the Stress Management programme, and assists participants who have examined stress management techniques to engage in multiple coping strategies. The facilitators encourage practical sessions in thought stopping and cognitive restructuring strategy, in addition to carefully identifying the problem and exercising of self-control. This programme is offered to both Inmates of the prison and clients in the community.
Life skills
This eight-session group is conducted in Cayman Brac and is offered to all clients. It includes topics such as Fundamentals of Parenting, Nurturing Children, the Role of Fathers, Discipline, Basics of Child Development, and the cultural influences on children.
Healthy relationships
The Healthy Relationships Group is a 12-week discussion group which presents the various components that make up a healthy relationship.
It helps participants better understand themselves in a relationship as well as how to create and maintain more healthy relationships in their lives.
The group focuses on the many different types of relationships (intimate partners, siblings, parents, friends, co-workers, etc.). .
By offering relevant programmes, The Department of Probation and Aftercare seeks to address the needs of the clients to facilitate their development into productive citizens.
In so doing, the aim is to reduce offending behaviour thus ensuring a safer community. Therefore as different needs, issues, or trends are identified, innovative programmes will be developed.
For further information on any programmes contact: The Department of Probation & Aftercare at 949-1693.
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