Don’t just support desistance, acknowledge it

The 2013 Avon and Somerset Probation Trust (ASPT) staff conference (#ASPT2013 on Twitter), included themes of desistance alongside a strong victim focus.  There is so much to say about desistance from this conference
that I felt compelled, given my ongoing interest, to write about it here.

Key note speakers included Shadd Maruna and Fergus McNeill, which as you would expect, provided a great deal of insight into desistance and just how important it is for Probation staff to be aware of how to support the process.  The key for me from these speakers was the importance of awareness raising in staff and encouraging people to think even more creatively and carefully about supporting desistance.  Probation staff are highly skilled and the application of these skills when sensitive and aware of supporting desistance, can be even more effective.  Sometimes you can listen to highly intelligent academic experts who describe processes to follow in order to “make” someone change.  This wasn’t the case with these speakers.  Instead we were shown the importance of treating people as individuals and supporting them in their own desistance process.  It could be disheartening to think that we can’t “make” someone change with interventions, but if you develop a dynamic and responsive desistance supporting approach with that individual, then any support or interventions that are correctly targeted, are likely to be more effective.

Steve Duncan wrote and facilitated the workshop entitled Hope is the Drug that Every Offender Needs, which is an exploration of desistance.  As a man with convictions he is moving through his own desistance process, in part through using his creativity.  I would certainly encourage you to read his blog (www.blessheadsteven.blogspot.co.uk) which has also been included in the Discovering Desistance knowledge exchange project.  The main theme of the workshop is that hope is needed to make changes, something that was also described by Fergus McNeill in his talk at the conference.  The workshop participants were encouraged to put aside preconceptions and to challenge themselves to think more creatively about how to support desistance with the people they work with.  It certainly achieved this.

This workshop was co-facilitated by a current service user who is being supervised by ASPT.  What made this workshop different is that it showed real life desistance processes of these men and enabled the participants to explore how this process was supported and also hindered.  There was a symbolic aspect to this workshop, because the facilitators were providing professionals with their insight, in a formal arena, and having their opinions being treated with respect and equality.  Both facilitators commented on the positive impact that being asked to facilitate the workshop because it was recognition of their progress and the changes that they have made.  This tied in with Shadd Maruna’s comments in his talk about the importance of rituals, recognition and signalling the ending of punishment.  Something that criminal justice sanctions are not good at.

Steve Duncan was very honest in stating that he appreciates that it can be brave for professionals to have people with convictions undertaking roles such as facilitating workshops to criminal justice workers.  This links into the risk aversion and also the stigma that he spoke of with regard to offending behaviour.  However, I think that you should look at it on a case by case basis, the same way that there would be colleagues that you would prefer to facilitate training.  In including this workshop in the ASPT staff conference I think that it demonstrates the commitment that the trust has in being creative and in demonstrating that they do support desistance and the capacity to change. 

There is nothing certain about the desistance process, as with any type of changes in human behaviour.  I’m sure we can all think of examples when someone has been progressing and making positive changes and then obstacles make it difficult to maintain.  However, this doesn’t mean that risk aversion should prevent desistance supporting decisions being made.  The desistance workshop highlighted to me just how important it is to acknowledge changes and progress, not just on an individual basis but also publicly.  We should be more confident in celebrating the successes of the people we work with.  This is doesn’t mean minimising the harm caused or not managing risks, but it does mean that there should be more focus and appreciation for the positives.  I’m sure that there are times when most people have felt unappreciated and that their skills and successes haven’t been acknowledged. Now imagine what that is like for individuals who have made such significant changes as the potential desisters do.  Acknowledgement is important to maintain desistance.