The Board: Effective multi-theoretical model for treatment of the substance-abusing offender.

摘要

From a socio-cultural and multi-theoretical viewpoint, this thesis examines the elements involved in creating effective therapeutic interventions such as the Board exercise that address criminal patterns of thinking and behaving in substance-abusing offenders. The theories of cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing techniques, 12-step programs, the therapeutic community model, and depth psychotherapy techniques are blended in the Short Term Intensive Remediation Residential Treatment program (STIRRT) in which The Board intervention is used. These varied approaches work with the diverse understanding of change that the clients hold about their own ability to alter their substance abuse and criminal behavior. The active learning process that is experienced by clients performing the Board exercise, the feedback from peers and the focus on empowering clients to learn from their own experience make this technique and approach effective with a population that struggles with authority. Using grounded theory’s methodology, the author proposes that the substance abusing offenders concern with power due to the experience of trauma underlies the symptoms of substance abuse and criminal behavior and can be effectively addressed in The Board exercise to reduce relapse and recidivism.