Improving Forensic Clinical Practice: Leveraging Concepts from Counselling and Counselling Psychology
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2023-07-24
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Abstract
The purpose of this research is to improve the practices of mental health professionals engaged in forensic practice by leveraging ideas and perspectives from counselling and counselling psychology. Counselling and counselling psychology are defined by their holistic, strength-based, and multiculturally competent ways of addressing mental health concerns and facilitating change. Despite both professions offering unique benefits for a variety of populations and needs, clinicians from these areas of practice are under-represented in a number of mental health work settings, one, in particular, being forensic. Additionally, there is also very limited research on how the practice of counselling and counselling psychology can benefit or enhance the area of forensic psychology. This knowledge gap is particularly evident in the areas of supervision, assessment, and psychotherapy. In this dissertation, I close some of these gaps by contributing three manuscripts that leverage ideas and perspectives from these related disciplines. Specifically, Chapter 1 presents an introduction to the potential benefits that counselling and counselling psychology could offer to the field of forensic mental health practice. Chapter 2/Manuscript 1 examines readiness to change as a key component to the working alliance with clients who have offended. The working alliance is a construct elaborated on by a counselling psychologist and is related to successful outcomes for both community and correctional populations. Chapter 3/Manuscript 2 draws upon existing literature from the field to provide recommendations to improve clinical supervision in forensic practice. Chapter 4/Manuscript 3 is a data-based research project that examines the application of a counselling perspective to forensic practice. Chapter 5 integrates themes across the three manuscripts and provides suggestions for forensic clinical practice. This chapter also considers the state of current forensic practice in Canada and its implications for counselling psychologists.
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Pasyk, V. S. (2023). Improving forensic clinical practice: leveraging concepts from counselling and counselling psychology (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.