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Counseling of Ex-offenders
The quality of the clinician/probation officer alliance with the ex-offender will determine the therapeutic outcome and obedience to social behavior, thereby reducing recidivism. The Value of spiritual counseling of ex-offenders is driven by social control and is managed by individuals who influence others to comply with social rules. Ex-offender’s social networks are often indicative of the criminal element or the environment in which they resided upon incarceration. They often return to these same environments of negative influence when released from detention.
Importance of Positive Relationships
Probationers who had positive relationships with their clinician (and probation officers) have shown tighter adherence to treatment and a low risk of probation violations.[1] However, probationers with co-occurring problems spend most of their lives with a core network, which is heavily comprised of friends and family members who have been arrested, regularly use drugs, or drink heavily.[2] They include only a few positive role models but mostly violators, such as drug users, and are therefore less likely to adhere to mandated treatment.
The value of spiritual counseling of ex-offenders is especially seen to be beneficial to probationers. Probationers with co-occurring problems (PCPs) were more satisfied with their lives when they perceived more social support and less social undermining from their clinician.[3] Skeem, Manchak, Vidal, and Haddad argued against social undermining, and social support is uncorrelated to PCPs’ outcome to rules and compliance.[4] Their study results suggested that social support is relevant to therapy outcomes and managing recidivism.
PCPs who reported positive relationships with their clinicians felt less coerced into the treatment and had higher recent therapy attendance. [5] These PCPs also had fewer recent probation violations and carried a lesser risk of future probation violations than those who did not have a positive relationship with their clinicians.[6] If clinicians desire to increase PCP’s compliance with the rules, positive relationships that influence the PCPs must be integrated into the treatment.[7] Technical procedures, which consist of medication, treatment models, and supervision programs, are crucial. However, if effective social control is applied respectfully in the context of high-quality relationships, it is just as effective, if not more.[8]
Grace and Hope through Pastoral Counseling
True pastoral counseling will emphasize holistic development and wellness.
Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.
3 John 1:2
Hope is almost always referred to as relief from suffering and an “expectation of personal transformation.”[9] According to Townsend, who cited Eysenck’s critique, which stated, an avalanche of research over the following fifty years left little doubt that psychotherapy is beneficial.[10] Furthermore, Eysenck stated, according to Townsend, people who receive psychotherapy for psychological problems are living better than those who do not.[11] One large meta-analytic study showed that the average person receiving the psychotherapy was better off than 80 percent of people with the same problem who did not receive the treatment by the end of the treatment.[12]
Townsend posits pastoral counselors regard their work as successful when clients
- Change what they can improve, such as their spiritual, emotional, or relational life, or
- Change their attitudes when other improvements are impossible.[13]
The thematic message found in pastoral counseling consist of a successful relationship between the counselor and the client leads to a successful outcome. Moreover, to have a successful relationship with the client, the counselor must be skilled in counseling, diverse in counseling, and spiritual.
[1] Jennifer Skeem, Jennifer Eno Louden, Sarah Manchak, Sarah Vidal, and Eileen Haddad, “Social Networks and Social Control of Probationers with Co-Occurring Mental and Substance Abuse Problems.,” Law and Human Behavior 33, no. 2 (2009): 131.
[2] ibid., 133.
[3] ibid., 134.
[4]ibid.,130.
[5] ibid., 130.
[6] ibid., 131.
[7] ibid., 131.
[8] ibid., 132.
[9] L. Townsend, Introduction to Pastoral Counseling. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2009, 119.
[10] ibid., 121.
[11] ibid., 121.
[12]ibid., 121.
[13] Ibid., 125.
End of “Value of spiritual counseling of ex-offenders“
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