The Wisconsin Chapter of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (WI-ATSA) 2014 Annual Conference
“Using Assessment to Inform Treatment and Risk Management: State of Art Practices”
May 15th & 16th, 2014
8:30 am – 4:30 pm
Mendota Mental Health Institute, Madison, WI
CEUs are included in the cost of registration
WI-ATSA Conference Information
Featured Speakers
Laurie Guidry, Psy.D.
The Double Stigma of Sexual Offenders with Co-Morbid Major Mental Illness: Clinical and Contextual Considerations in Effective Assessment, Treatment and Risk Management
Dr. Laurie Guidry is a licensed clinical and forensic psychologist specializing in the effective assessment, treatment and risk management of individuals who perpetrate sexual violence, the treatment of sexual abuse and the prevention and elimination of sexual violence. She provides assessments, consultation, supervision and training across the New England region and presents locally, nationally and internationally on topics associated with sexually abusive behaviors among disabled populations, including those with major mental illness, developmental/intellectual disabilities and/or traumatic brain injuries. Dr. Guidry is the President of the Massachusetts Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (MATSA) and Co-Chair of the Massachusetts Coalition for Sex Offender Management (MCSOM). She has recently been appointed by the Governor of Massachusetts to the Sex Offender Recidivism Commission. She is active in efforts to inform public policy on rational, evidence-based, and comprehensive approaches to maximizing public safety through the effective treatment and management of those who sexually abuse others. Dr. Guidry is co-author of the book Addictions and Trauma Recovery: Healing the Body, Mind & Spirit. She has also published several book chapters including: Sex offender-specific treatment: Historical foundations, current challenges and contemporary approaches; and Addressing the victim/perpetrator dialectic: Treatment for the effects of sexual victimization on sex offenders. Dr. Guidry has been recognized for her substantive work with chronically mentally ill individuals with sexually abusive/offending behavior as a recipient of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health’s Citation for Outstanding Performance award, and received the Distinguished Psychologist Award from Antioch New England Graduate School.
Individuals who struggle with major mental illness (as well as those with intellectual/developmental disabilities) and problematic sexual behavior and/or sexual offending behavior present significant challenges to the professionals in the clinical and forensic service systems within which these special sub-populations of those who sexually abuse/offend others are assessed, treated and managed. In addition, the psychosocial impact of the stigma associated with either being identified as having a serious psychological or developmental/intellectual disability or engaging in sexual offending/sexual abusing behavior is exponentially multiplied when these realities are found to be combined in one person; it is a powerful double stigma that has clinical and risk management implications that demands an informed response. This workshop is designed to explore effective practices with these complex sub-populations of those who sexually abuse others. Critical distinctions to take into consideration in assessment, treatment and risk management approaches with sexual abusers/offenders with co-occurring severe and persisting mental/developmental/intellectual disorders will be presented. The application of current best practice approaches, including Risk-Needs-Responsivity and the Good Lives Model, as applied to these challenging special needs populations will be introduced. Further, the impact of traumatic experiences, including sexual abuse, understood as pervasive among those with serious mental/developmental/intellectual concerns, will be examined. Finally, the potential impact on reducing the re-occurrence of problematic sexual behavior and/or sexual offense recidivism by rigorously targeting in treatment the negative effects of trauma as they serve to influence the presence and persistence of the dynamic risk factors in individuals with major mental illness and/or developmental/intellectual disabilities and sexually abusive behaviors will be reviewed.
Objectives- Participants will be introduced to key distinctions between the population of individuals with major mental illness and/or developmental/intellectual disabilities who sexually offend/abuse and those without that should be considered in working with these special sub-populations of sexual abusers.
- Participants will review how the current best practices in the assessment, treatment and risk management of those who sexually offend/abuse can be applied to those with serious mental illness and/or developmental/intellectual disabilities who engage in sexually abusive/offending behaviors.
- Participants will examine how addressing trauma sequelae in those with major mental illness and/or developmental/intellectual disabilities and sexual offending/sexually abusing behavior can serve to positively impact dynamic risk factors and potentially reduce sexual offense recidivism and/or the re-occurrence of sexually abusive behavior.
Robert J. McGrath, MA
Dynamic Risk Assessment: The Sex Offender Treatment Intervention and Progress Scale (SOTIPS) – A dynamic measure of risk, treatment needs, and treatment progress
Robert McGrath, M.A. is a licensed psychologist-master and Clinical Director of the Vermont DOC statewide network of three prison and twelve community sex offender treatment programs. He is co-author of the books Supervision of the Sex Offender and Current Practices and Emerging Trends in Sexual Abuser Management. He has served on the treatment advisory boards and accreditation panels of several sex offender programs including the national programs in Canada, England, and Hong Kong.
The Sex Offender Treatment Intervention and Progress Scale (SOTIPS) is a 16 item, provider-administered, dynamic measure designed to aid clinicians and probation and parole officers in assessing risk, treatment and supervision needs, and progress among adult male sex offenders. The workshop will review briefly the theoretical basis for and psychometric properties of the scale. The majority of the workshop will focus on how to score and use the instrument with a static risk measure such as the Static-99R or VASOR-2.
Objectives- Describe the theoretical basis for the SOTIPS.
- Describe the psychometric properties of the SOTIPS
- Learn how to score and use the SOTIPS in applied settings.
- Identify limitations of the SOTIPS.
McGrath, R. J., Lasher, M. P., & Cumming, G. F. (2012). The Sex Offender Treatment Intervention and Progress Scale (SOTIPS): Psychometric properties and incremental validity with the Static-99R. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 24, 431-458.
McGrath, R. J., Lasher, M. P., & Cumming, G. F. (2011). A model of static and dynamic sex offender risk assessment (Document No. 236217). Washington, DC: United States Department of Justice.
MaterialsVASOR-2 Score Sheet April 2012
WI SOTIPS Ryan-Travis-Roger-Arthur participant w static scores 4-18-14