TRY -- Treatment Readiness for You: A Workbook for Sexual Offenders.

TRY -- Treatment Readiness for You: A Workbook for Sexual Offenders by Murray Cullen, Ph.D., LLC, and Robin Wilson, Ph.D., American Correctional Association, 2003, 66 pp.

As the title states, TRY -- Treatment Readiness for You is intended to be used as a workbook by sex offenders instead of as a reference manual by practitioners, counselors or therapists. The text is broken down into seven chapters, which takes the participant six sessions to complete. The workbook can be used either as a personal exercise or in conjunction with a group setting. The authors do not mince words and are straightforward in confronting sexual offenders across the spectrum of abuse, from pedophiles to date rape predators. The language is often graphic and the realistic scenarios that are covered in each chapter should give readers reason to pause and to think about their own behavior in the context of the scenario. They should also start to think about the actions that have caused them to be in such a therapeutic setting, either through voluntary referral or by court- or parole-mandated treatment conditions.

Each session focuses on a different sex offender scenario and is followed by a series of questions that the offender responds to in the context of that scenario. The offender will then question his or her own actions as to how the scenario affected him or her and how the workbook mirrors what has happened in the offender's life. This use of a third party experience draws the reader into the dialogue of how sex offenders should attempt to restrain their real life actions and emotions as they critique the fictionalized account of a sex offense. Readers are then forced to confront their own inner weaknesses and attempt to use their personal strengths to try to prevent relapse from occurring in their life. This type of format allows for the entire clinical group to participate in the session without being open to ridicule from the other group members. It also places all of the participants on the same level as they work through each session in the workbook as a group.

The workbook evolves during the sessions from the initial question as to why the reader is in therapy. Once the realization is made that they are in need of counseling, readers then move on to the issues of changing ideas about themselves and others. It then finishes with the last three chapters focusing on positive change using specific examples of how to bring about a successful future for the offenders while stressing the need to be objective about their past crimes and actions. The workbook can then be used as a resource guide by the offender to reference in the future or as a source of positive reinforcement to prevent relapse. Cullen and Wilson maintain that going through six sessions does not absolve sex offenders from their actions and that long-term therapy is still the best approach to relapse prevention. The main reason for this is that the support network built up in a group environment aids the member in case he or she is suffering a breakdown and is in need of support. The authors stress to the reader that most sex offenders suffer from social alienation that only intensifies as they continue to be shunned as outcasts from participating in social activities that would actually benefit in their treatment process. These same social activities are often taken for granted by the general populace who would repel at the thought of sex offenders participating in activities that their families and friends are engaged in. This isolation only serves to accelerate the relapse process of the sex offender.

As a supervisor of several sex offender parole officers at the local district office, I found this workbook to be an invaluable aid during the several months that I had it in my office. I used it as a motivational tool toward directing positive, cognitive change to a population that often blames everyone else for their predicament except themselves. This workbook can be used by parole/probation officers as a supplement to a clinical treatment program or as a bridge from the time an offender is released from incarceration to his or her enrollment in an outpatient treatment group. The workbook also provides assistance to others who work with the offender as it provides an overview of sex offender treatment dynamic in a social setting. The authors use their extensive background in the Canadian restorative justice movement to highlight in the last chapter how critical it is to have a network or circle of support that works with the offender upon release and to assist for the long term. In this model, the circles can include law enforcement, parole/probation, community support groups, employers, clergy and therapists. The authors maintain that community engagement rather than isolation is the key to successful re-integration into the community, even if on a limited basis.

As a reader of the workbook, I was forced into a realistic appraisal of my own notions of reality versus myth in dealing with the sex offender population from a supervisory aspect. The main strength of this workbook is that anyone who reads it will come away with a clearer understanding of the role that treatment, either in a personal or group setting, must play if this population is to function in society. By merging the benefits of a therapeutic approach to the support network of community circles envisioned by restorative justice advocates, Cullen and Wilson have provided a blueprint toward an advanced treatment dynamic for the sex offender population.

Reviewed by Charles J. Binder, MA, acting district parole supervisor, New Jersey Division of Parole, Hudson County Office, Jersey City, N.J. He can be contacted at [phone].