Abuse, Offending and Addressing This in Therapy: A Staff and Service User’s Perspective on the Journey to Self-Acceptance and a Crime-Free Life

This chapter describes the therapeutic community (TC) model for working with individuals convicted of sexual crime. The chapter demonstrates how TCs work to address past trauma and offending, through the voices of a service user and staff member. A unique commentary from a resident’s perspective provides insight into the experience of undertaking therapy to work through childhood and offending history within a TC. The chapter also offers a description of the work undertaken at HMP Grendon—a prison-based TC in the UK, and the impact this work can have on staff. Finally, the chapter considers the importance of the environment in which this work is undertaken and how this can play a vital role in the experiences of those residing there.