At the crossroads

9.30 am - 10.30 am & 11.00 am - 12.00 pm

This workshop provides a current review of the research on child pornography offenders. Included is the characteristics of offenders and an overview of risk factors for recidivism. The session will also discuss treatment approaches. The learning objectives are:

1. Provide an overview of the characteristics of child pornography offenders;

2. Identify risk assessment approaches and intervention goals.

9.30 am - 10.30 am & 11.00 am - 12.00 pm

Research has shown a connection between early trauma experiences, attachment difficulties and disrupted neurological development in children. The effect of these early developmental experiences can have a significant impact on specific brain functions such as affect regulation, language processing, and executive functioning, as well as creating difficulties in making and sustaining stable social relationships. As we have examined the dynamics involved in problematic or abusive sexual behavior and developed interventions to treat these problems, we have often failed to appreciate the real obstacles these developmental difficulties may create for clients. The focus of this workshop will be to examine how treatment that focuses on these “foundation skills” can work to get our clients back on a positive developmental trajectory while also diminishing their risk to engage in abusive, aggressive, and problematic behavior.

9.30 am - 10.30 am & 11.00 am - 12.00 pm

Most forensic professionals hold a good understanding of the characteristics, offence styles, and treatment needs of males who sexually offend. However, many of these issues are relatively unclear in relation to females who sexually offend and research knowledge is only just beginning to develop. In this workshop, I will outline some of the key psychological research developments that have occurred over the past two decades in relation to understanding females who sexually offend and their treatment needs. I will also examine some of the key factors that appear to differentiate females who sexually offend from their male counterparts. I will focus discussions around how psychological research developments in this area should be used to inform practice and future research with females who sexually offend. 

9.30 am - 10.30 am & 11.00 am - 12.00 pm

Providing sexual offender treatment is challenging at least in part due to the heterogeneous nature of sexual offenders and their offending. Nowhere is this challenge more profound than in providing sex offender treatment to adult males with mental disorders and/or intellectual challenges. We have adjusted our treatment program to match the learning styles and motivational and other challenges of these clients. This workshop presents and demonstrates some of the ways in which we have altered our program to suit the specific needs of these types of sexual offenders. Workshop attendees will be given specific strategies to help them successfully provide treatment to this unique population of sexual offenders.

9.30 am - 10.30 am & 11.00 am - 12.00 pm

The identification of high risk violent men to be targeted for treatment services and other risk management efforts has important policy, public safety, criminal justice, and health related implications. This workshop will review issues in theory, research, and clinical practice in the assessment and management of risk in violent offenders. Emphases will be placed on the treatment change literature and its practice based considerations, particularly regarding the linkage of measuring treatment-related changes to changes in risk for violent recidivism. The incorporation of change information into violence risk assessments, with supporting data, will be discussed with implications for the adjustment of post-service risk appraisals to inform conditional release and supervision decisions.