What to Look for in a Treatment Provider: Learning Objectives

1. What to Look for in a Treatment Provider: Learning Objectives • Identify basic qualifications of sex offender-specific treatment providers • Describe desirable traits of sex offender-specific treatment providers • Explain the importance of attitudes and practices supportive of multidisciplinary collaboration • Identify referral sources to locate sex offender-specific treatment providers Long Version: Section 5

2. Lack of Standardization Lack of standardized certification or other credentialing in most jurisdictions presents a major difficulty in promoting common standards of practice Long Version: Section 5

3. What to Look For in the Absence of Defined Standards • Degrees—necessary, but not sufficient • Continuing and specialized education • Experience with involuntary and offender clients • Membership in Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers and other professional associations Long Version: Section 5

4. ATSA Suggests Specialized Training • Assessment • Psychometric and psychophysiological testing • Psychopathology • Risk assessment • Counseling and psychotherapy • Cognitive therapy • Couples and family therapy Long Version: Section 5

5. ATSA Suggests Specialized Training(cont.) • Family reunification • Pharmacological therapy • Relationship and social skills training • Relapse prevention • Sexual arousal control • Social support networks • Victim awareness and empathy Long Version: Section 5

6. Other ATSA Requirements for Treatment Providers • Participation in a minimum of 15 hours of continuing education annually • Must be informed about mandatory reporting requirements related to their work Long Version: Section 5

7. Ethical Treatment Practice • Obtaining informed consent of the individuals being evaluated and treated • Maintaining appropriate confidentiality and informing the offenders in their care of the limits of confidentiality • Providing for the reasonable security of others and themselves Long Version: Section 5

8. Ethical Treatment Practice(cont.) • Taking steps to provide continuity of care for offenders with whom providers work • Maintaining appropriate boundaries • Obtaining information for evaluation purposes in a variety of areas and from several independent sources Long Version: Section 5

9. Sex Offender Treatment Providers as Collaborative Partners A willingness to collaborate with other professionals, including: • Probation and parole officers • Victim advocates • Polygraph examiners • Other assessors, evaluators, and treatment providers • Attorneys, prosecutors, and other criminal justice representatives Long Version: Section 5

10. Locating Sex Offender-Specific Treatment Providers • Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers 4900 S.W. Griffith Drive, Suite 274 Beaverton, OR 97005 (503) 643-1023 Email: atsa@atsa.com Web site: www.atsa.com • Safer Society Foundation P.O. Box 340 Brandon, VT 05733-0340 (802) 247-3132 Web site: www.safersociety.org Long Version: Section 5

11. Summary • ATSA and Safer Society are helpful resources • Treatment providers must collaborate with others who manage sex offenders • In identifying treatment providers, think creatively about incentives to make work appealing to those who might be interested Long Version: Section 5

12. Training Summary • The primary goal of sex offender-specific treatment is the protection of the community • Recent treatment outcome studies indicate that treatment works • The four domains of treatment are: sexual interests, distorted attitudes, interpersonal functioning, and behavior management • The most widely accepted form of treatment is cognitive-behavioral with relapse prevention • Treatment providers must work in close collaboration with others who manage sex offenders Long Version: Section 5