Guidelines for Selecting a Sex Offender Therapist
Posted by Joseph Doherty on Tue, Feb 21, 2012 @ 03:36 PM
Sex offenders require sex offender specific therapy that not all mental health professionals are capable of providing. This being the case some guidelines are offered below to help in the search for a knowledgable professional.
Just because someone has an advanced degree as a mental health professional does not mean they can be engaged to provide sex offender treatment. In choosing a therapist it should be someone who has the following:
- Professional Membership in an organization such as The Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers
- Demonstrated experience in providing sex offender specific therapy. Since most sex offender specific therapy is group therapy it helps if they are also as a Certified Group Psychotherapist (CGP)
- An individual who has conducted psychosexual evaluations
- Someone who is knowledgeable about risk instruments such as the STATIC - 2002, the VRAG, the STABLE 2007, to name a few
- An individual who is currently being supervised, or has been supervised, by a mental health professional who has expertise in the field of sexual offender evaluation and treatment
- If the treatment provider has 3 years or less of experience he/she should be currently supervised by a mental health professional with expertise in the field
As for anyone seeking mental health counseling, no matter what the focus of it may be, it is important to keep in mind that the individual seeking the counseling is a consumer and it is within their rights to ask the provider about their background. Having more knowledge is better than having little or none at all.
