Probation Officer Curriculum Training

Working With Offenders

This module introduces the Probation Officer to the skills and approaches to working with offenders. It will also provide a base level understanding of the ways that offenders present, the ethical dilemmas that arise out of correctional practice and core ways to communicate with offenders. In addition, it provides the theoretical ideas that underpin current correctional practice.

Learning objectives

By the end of this course participants will be able to:

• describe key characteristics of the offender population, including values and attitudes, and the implications of working with offenders,
• identify skills for effectively working with offenders and practice these,
• describe the current theories underpinning correctional practice and link these to working with offenders in the Probation Officer role,
• describe the core principles of the motivational interviewing model, and
• explore ethical practice and the issues involved in maintaining appropriate boundaries when working with offenders.

Content covered

• Who are we working with?
• Understanding change
• The psychology of criminal conduct
• Offender presentation styles
• Listening skills
• Reflective listening
• Open questioning style
• Engaging with mandated offenders
• Practising the skills of engagement
• Cognitive behavioural theory
• Creating cognitive dissonance
• Rolling with resistance
• Ethical practice and maintaining boundaries
• Confidentiality and keeping ethically safe
• Relapse prevention and revisiting change
• Managing challenging offender behaviour
• Effective interviewing
• The effect and impact of the work
• Review, reflection and closing

Bi-Cultural Practice

This module introduces the Probation Officer to the skills and approaches to working with Maori offenders. It will provide very basic strategies on the skills of working with Maori offenders and how to engage appropriately with whanau.

Learning objectives

By the end of this course participants will be able to:

• describe key issues related to bi-cultural practice,
• utilise a range of strategies to appropriately engage with Maori offenders and their whanau relatives to the levels of acculturation,
• manage situations where kaumatua or significant whanau supporters are present, and identify supports that exist for bi-cultural practice (cultural supervision, cultural networks, etc.) and how to access these in order to clarify cultural related issues that present. These may be a combination of both internal and external to the organisation.

Content covered

• Cultural responsiveness and cultural engagement
• Key cultural concepts
• Skills for working with whänau
• Cultural supervision, liaison with Mäori providers, and cultural support networks

Core Assessment Skills

This module introduces the Probation Officer to the skills and approaches used in assessment. It will provide a solid foundation of interviewing skills that can be used across the many types of assessments that are carried out in the daily practice of probation work.

Learning objectives

By the end of this course participants will be able to:

• describe the key steps and sub-steps of the assessment process, including an awareness of process issues that contribute to and detract from such a process,
• undertake a behavioural interview drawing upon cognitive behavioural theory, systems theory, and motivational interviewing,
• demonstrate a culturally sensitive approach to offender assessment,
• balance an objective assessment of the risks an offender might present to the community against factors that might ameliorate such risks, and
• synthesise the information which would form the basis for any recommendation or report.

Content covered

• Welcome, Goal setting, What is Assessment?
• Approaches to assessment
• Identifying and managing risk
• Social systems and cultural assessment
• Cognitive and emotional barriers of assessor
• Skills for working cross-culturally
• Cognitive and emotional barriers of offenders and others
• Assessing readiness to change
• Preparation for assessment Engaging interview skills
• Engaging offenders
• Information gathering
• Behavioural assessment
• Behavioural assessment – skills practice
• Closure of interview Analysing information
• Victimisation and assessment
• Assessing significant others and victims
• Issues that can derail the assessment process
• Bringing the process together, post course tasks, closure

Core Sentence Planning and Intervention Skills

This module introduces the Probation Officer to core sentence planning and intervention skills. It comprises knowledge of intervention options and referral processes, identifying and managing risk, planning and negotiating a plan, advocacy/brokerage – identifying and managing inter-agency referrals and relationships, and working with resistance at a basic level.

Learning objectives

By the end of the course participants will be able to:

• describe the key characteristics of an effective Probation Officer,
• utilise assessment information to make informed decisions as to the appropriate intervention option(s) for their clients,
• utilise assessment information in order to enhance client motivation through the use of cost-benefit analyses,
• adopt a motivational interviewing approach to support client self evaluation of presenting problems,
• undertake an intervention using the Problem Solving Model, and
• help their clients to identify relapse prevention strategies to eliminate any identified offence related needs.

Content covered

• What is the nature of an intervention within the Corrections environment
• Qualities of an effective probation officer
• Reviewing motivation post-sentencing
• Decision grids
• Managing risk and strength based interventions
• Challenging cognitive distortions
• Goal setting
• The problem solving module
• The problem solving module & motivational interviewing
• Relapse prevention – coping strategies
• Reflective practice
• Supporting offenders engaged in programme interventions

Advanced Sentence Management Skills

This module introduces the Probation Officer to advanced sentence management skills that focus on assessing family dynamics that impact upon offending behaviour and working with the offender in the context of his/her family.

This module will also consider specific practice issues involving the family and offender in relation to alcohol and drug addiction, violence and abuse, and mental health problems.

Learning objectives

By the end of this course participants will be able to:

• describe the key theories that underpin an understanding of family dynamics with reference to family structure, history, boundaries, and life stage development,
• understand the offender’s family system and dynamics and be able to assess the strengths and risks in the family,
• reflect on practice being mindful of own experience of family and that of offenders, and
• coach and influence the offender using the resources of the family to assist in rehabilitation goals.

Content covered

• Styles of family systems
• Family identity
• Family culture
• Family isolation
• Eco-maps
• Family history – Genograms
• Building family / whänau audience for change
• Structural family theory
• Family functioning
• Developmental needs and life stages
• Family communication skills
• Running a family meeting re safety planning
• Assisting offenders and families to change
• Managing distractions in family interviews
• Reflective practice, post course tasks, closure

Motivational Techniques

This module recognises that the core skills related to developing motivation are complex. If we do not engage and retain offenders in meaningful interaction, or they drop out of treatment, then they are likely to re-offend at higher rates and more frequently. This increases, rather than decreases, risk to the community.

This module introduces the probation officer to advanced motivational interviewing skills that focus upon effective matching of the offender with where they are located within the stage model of change.

In our conversations about offenders we often use language such as ‘unmotivated, in denial, or hardened’, to describe the difficulties we have in engaging these people in purposeful work. These very descriptions invite us to personalise the problem of lack of interest and motivation to that of a trait within the person. This can further invite us to become punitive in our interactions and use confrontational approaches during interventions to try to create a sense of movement. Resistance to change is not unusual and if we explore other areas of practice, for example, addictions, mental health, physical health (obesity, diet) and so forth, we find that the lack of motivation or interest in change probably matches that of those who offend.

Confrontational approaches have been shown to be less than effective and can instantly invite the offender to position themselves in a position of the victim of the criminal justice system. These approaches also tend to rely on avoidance motivation which is where offenders are seeking to minimise or avoid the consequences of their behaviour rather than position themselves in how they want to be in the world (approach motivation).

Learning objectives

By the end of this course participants will be able to:

• Describe the key principles that underpin an understanding of motivational interviewing
• effectively match motivational techniques to the stage the offender is at in the Stage model of change
• effectively use a number of motivational interviewing tools.

Content covered

• Cornerstones of motivation
• Principles and core skills of motivational techniques
• How to begin
• Eliciting change talk
• Decisional balance and rolling with resistance
• Rolling with resistance and barriers to change
• Strengthening commitment to change
• Taking MT into your practice