From design to reality: setting up a

community service for MAPPA

offenders with personality disorders
Vikki Baker Associate Director (Mental Health)
Sandra Oluonye Associate Director (Criminal Justice)
Aims
• To introduce Resettle
• To increase awareness of the challenges
faced by personality disordered men in
prison and following release
• To share our experiences of developing a
service to help men to meet these
challenges
Our challenges
How to develop a therapeutic service which
engages previously difficult to engage men whilst
also addressing the needs of:
• MAPPA, the parole board, probation and other CJS
agencies
• The wider community
• Staff in local agencies and within the project
• Existing and developing pathways from prison via Resettle
and into mainstream services
What are the particular requirements and
challenges of this work?

• Split into two groups: 15 Mins

• Group one
What are the challenges faced by personality
disordered men in prison?
What are the pros and cons of prison for this
group?
Group two
What challenges might be faced in designing a
service to meet the needs of these men when they
are released from prison?
3 main challenges

1.Engagement
2.Achieving joined- up multi
agency and multi disciplinary
work
3.Working within the wider context
Challenge 1: How to foster
engagement

• In reach work
• Developing a non-threatening therapeutic milieu
• Addressing core needs: money, shelter, food,
emotional warmth and care
• Structured individual and group work
• Individual pathways through the project
• Overcoming stigma and facilitating social
inclusion
Fostering engagement 2
• Developing and sharing formulations:
how I got here, understanding and
anticipating difficulties, seeing the whole
person
• Where I want to be- realistic goal setting
(good lives)
• Transparency (e.g. re licence conditions,
shared expectations)
• Noticing and building on strengths and
positives
Challenges to engagement
• Previous experience of services
• Research process
• Access to prisoners
• Timeliness of referrals (relationship with
referrers)
• Non supportive prison environment
• Managing behaviour that invites rejection safely
“Stick with you service”
Challenge 2: achieving joined up multi
agency working

• Joint training (block and ongoing)

• Supervision
• Acknowledging and valuing difference
• Supporting each other
• Acknowledging and understanding different
agendas/ priorities
• Developing a non blaming culture of enquiry
• Acknowledge that non of us are experts!
Joined up working 2
• Acknowledging, understanding and surviving
difficulties:
Challenges to professional roles and identities
Avoiding competition between models/ priorities
(e.g. risk/therapy dichotomy)
Clarity re policies and protocols (e.g. information
sharing)
Eliciting support from the board and other
stakeholders
Evaluate, review, learn, develop
Challenge 3: working within the wider
context
DSPD pilots –
lessons learned
More need for
community provision
High level of unmet
and unrecognised
need in offenders
Need for move on Mental health
pathways context and policy
developments
• New Horizons
– towards a
Criminal justice
shared vision
context and policy
of mental
developments
health
Indeterminate Public
• Knowledge
Protection sentences
and
Bradley Review
Community pilots Understanding
for PD- lessons Framework
learned • PD, no longer
Need to work a diagnosis of
towards recovery exclusion
and social
integration
Maximise service
user involvement
and empowerment
Not one size fits all
We don’t know
enough yet about
‘what works’
Engagement is all!
The community
• Finding a property (location, creating the
right environment)
• Pro-active approach- e.g. with police, KIN
networks
• Local media
• Links with accommodation providers,
employers, gyms, sports activities, health
provision, social networks
• Any thoughts or
comments?
Contact Details
• vikki.baker@merseyside.probation.gsi.gov.u
k
• sandra.oluonye@merseyside.probation.gsi.g
ov.uk