Sexually Inappropriate Behaviour
Workshops for those who struggle with sexual behaviour that might lead to committing a sexual offence
(https://fightthenewdrug.org/)
This Research-Based organisation presents reviews and summaries of research in a variety of areas related to pornography; effects on the brain, relationships and society. Presentations for Students are available, and links to media and podcasts available.
(https://www.yourbrainonporn.com/)
Gary Wilson is the founder of this site and author of a book of the same name, proceeds from which go to a registered charity. The site is maintained by a group effort that includes men who have recovered from internet-porn related problems and a retired teacher. Pages are dedicated to Quitting porn, Research, Sexual problems and Videos and articles. The latter contains five videos produced by them, and a link to a long list of other videos available which includes the channel 4 documentary of 2018 ‘Porn on the brain’ (https://www.yourbrainonporn.com/relevant-research-and-articles-about-the-studies/porn-use-sex-addiction-studies/cambridge-university-brain-scans-find-evidence-consistent-with-addiction/porn-on-the-brain-uk-documentary/).
Abstract (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359178917303609)
There is increasing interest in the use of strength-based approaches, such as the Good Lives Model (GLM), in the field of offender rehabilitation to complement primarily risk management models. To date, theoretical work has focused on the application of the GLM to adult offenders, and primarily sexual offenders at that. This paper explores the theoretical application of the Good Lives Model (GLM) to the rehabilitation of youth offenders. Practitioners often struggle to engage young people in treatment as working towards the goal of avoiding further offending does not directly speak to their core concerns and, as such, is not very motivating. The GLM is a rehabilitation framework that focuses on approach goals, which encourages individuals to identify and formulate ways of achieving personally meaningful goals in prosocial ways. It is argued that as a rehabilitation framework the GLM has the flexibility and breadth to accommodate the variety of risk factors and complex needs youth offenders present with, and also provides a natural fit with a dynamic systems (e.g., family and educational systems) framework, and evidence based interventions in the youth offender field.
Please see https://scholar.google.co.nz/citations?user=Cos97IEAAAAJ&hl=en for further research papers by this author.
Abstract
The Good Way model was originally developed for working with youth with intellectual difficulties who have sexually abused and is also now being used with adults with intellectual disabilities and non-disabled adolescents. The model is practical and has been developed to address the need for a common, coherent narrative with which clients and therapists can effectively discuss behaviour and experiences. It has been developed through a process of listening to the clients’ descriptions of their experiences and then adapting our conceptual framework accordingly. The model is essentially a strengths-based programme using a narrative therapy approach and incorporates relapse prevention. There are two streams to the model: the first (Good Way/Bad Way) focuses on the young person identifying their strengths and the components of their “Good Life”, developing an understanding of the consequences of their actions including their abusive behaviour, and developing their ability to choose the “Good Way”. The other stream (Good House/Bad House) deals with the young person’s experience of loss and trauma, and assists them to develop an appreciation of the impact on others of their abusive behaviour and to take steps to repair relationships where possible. Current indications of success are shown by the young people and their families readily using the language, and applying the concepts to describe and monitor their behaviour. To date, none of the young people who have completed the programme are known to have sexually re-offended.
Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13552600600841680
Abstract
The Good Way model is being used increasingly in New Zealand and Australia in both community-based and residential programmes for the treatment of adolescents and adults with intellectual difficulties who have sexually abusive behaviour. It is also being used with children and, in adapted forms, with mainstream adolescents and people of indigenous cultures. Early process evaluations of the model have been positive. This paper focuses on work with those with mild intellectual disabilities, and proposes that, in addition to being a useful framework for treatment, the Good Way model can also be used both as a practical, constructive neutralization and as a way to develop adaptive ‘‘explicit theories’’ with these clients, particularly when it is used jointly with the preferred clinical approach of developing individualized, self-narratives of desistance and rehabilitation.
This article recognizes that many forms of problematic sexual behavior can be reduced or eliminated by changing either sexual or nonsexual components of a person’s life. The framework describes sexual behavior as problematic if it consistently:
The framework does not use the type or frequency of sexual behavior as an assessment variable and does not consider causes or treatment of problematic sexual behavior.
The analysis looks at domestic violence, general violence and sexual offences. Across all programs, offense specific recidivism was 13.4% for treated individuals and 19.4% for untreated comparisons over an average follow up of 66.1 months. Relative reductions in offense specific recidivism were 32.6% for sexual offense programs, 36.0% for domestic violence programs, and 24.3% for general violence programs. The meta-analysis is the most exhaustive to date that examines the effects of specialized psychological treatments for sexual offending, including 11 new studies since Schmucker and Lösel’s (2015) original searches in 2010. The sexual recidivism reductions that we found for these programs were higher than, or at the top end of, those reported in previous meta-analyses.
This paper presents a very informative review of the research available on harmful sexual behaviours (HSB) and proposes ideas for prevention, and outlines some of the current gaps in research which would help with more effective intervention to reduce the risk of sexually abusive behaviours in adolescence.
Mandatory reporting is again being considered, despite children’s services leaders rejecting the idea as unworkable. In this article from ‘BACP Children & Young People’, December 2016, Peter Jenkins reports on how we got to this point, and the possible implications.
This is a literature review. Conclusions: Cognitive-behavioral therapy is the most prominent therapy for sexual offenders. Although reports from individual programs and meta-analyses support its efficacy, overall, the strength of the evidence base supporting this therapy is weak and much more empirical research is needed.