PhD, MPsych (Forensic)

Contact Astrid

Dr Astrid Birgden is a forensic and clinical psychologist with 30 years experience in developing seven statewide frameworks and services in the courts, corrections and human services. Between 2006 and 2011 she established and managed the Compulsory Drug Treatment Correctional Centre in Sydney, Australia, based on a humanistic approach. Since becoming a consultant in 2011, she has provided advice regarding the assessment, treatment, and management of complex clients, developed service delivery and case management models, and conducted organisational reviews of correctional and forensic disability agencies. Her international work includes establishing a citizen-police mediation in New Orleans, addressing torture prevention with military and police in Asia, and training correctional staff and counsellors in the Caribbean. She has a particular interest in the interface between law and psychology and is published in the areas of offender rehabilitation, therapeutic jurisprudence, and human rights. She is Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor at Deakin University and, in addition to a Masters in Forensic Psychology and PhD, she also holds a Masters in Advanced Mental Disability Law through New York Law School.

Astrid has applied the GLM in policy development and service delivery. Between 2000 and 2004 she combined the Risk-Need Model (assessment), the Good Lives Model (treatment) and Therapeutic Jurisprudence (management) to develop the Reducing Reoffending Framework for Corrections Victoria, applied to both case management and therapeutic interventions. Between 2006 and 2011 Astrid successfully applied this framework to the Compulsory Drug Treatment Correctional Centre; the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research conducted an evaluation in 2010 and a three-year outcome study is due in 2014. Astrid combines the Good Lives Model and Therapeutic Jurisprudence in policy and service delivery as both are humanistic theories concerned with the well-being of those who interact with the criminal justice system.

PhD, Criminology

Contact Mayumi

Dr. Mayumi Purvis is a criminologist and private consultant/researcher; she is also an Honorary Fellow at the University of Melbourne, School of Social and Political Science (Criminology). She has worked in mixed government and academic roles such as managing the policy and projects arm of the Sex Offender Management Branch (Corrections Victoria), offender case management and teaching and researching positions at several Australian Universities. During her time in Corrections, Mayumi’s most notable achievement was the development and implementation of a sex offender Specialist Case Management Model into Community Correctional Services.

Mayumi’s main areas of interest and expertise are the GLM as it relates to case management, sex offender management and rehabilitation, positive psychology, and general criminological theory and research. Mayumi has published multiple papers related to sex offender management, and has published two books, the most recent being, “Applying the Good Lives Model to the Case Management of Sexual Offenders: A Practical Guide for Probation Officers, Parole Officers, and Case Workers”. She currently runs a criminological consultancy service and delivers case management training based on the Good Lives Model.  Mayumi also coordinates and co-lectures in a post-graduate qualification offered at Melbourne University called the Specialist Certificate in Criminology (Sexual Offender Management). 

GOOD LIVES MODEL WORK

In 2006, Mayumi completed her PhD under Professor Tony Ward, which focused on testing the aetiological assumptions of the GLM. In addition, the research made an important finding regarding the offence pathways of child sexual offenders. Based on the theory of the GLM and her PhD research findings, Mayumi has pioneered the development of the GLM case management approach. The GLM’s operationalisation in this context represents both innovation for the GLM and groundbreaking new practice in the area of community corrections case management. In addition, three key case management tools have been developed to guide case managers in a structured and yet meaningful approach to offender management. The GLM case management approach is applicable for any offender typology, however is primarily used for high-risk sexual offenders. The GLM case management approach has been implemented and utilised by Corrections Victoria since 2008.

Stijn Vandevelde

PhD, Special Needs Education

Contact Stijn

Stijn Vandevelde is an associate professor at the Department of Special Needs Education (“Orthopedagogics”). Previously, he was affiliated as lecturer and researcher at University College Ghent, Faculty of Education, Health and Social Work (Bachelor in Special Education) since 2005.

His research and research interests include forensic special needs education; the support of persons with behavior- and emotional problems; the support of special target groups/settings (e.g. people with mental illness who have offended; persons with intellectual disabilities and co-occurring behavior problems and/or mental health problems; substance abuse treatment in prison); Quality of Life (e.g. in forensic settings); rehabilitation of persons who have offended (e.g., underpinned by the Good Lives Model); and theoretical special needs education. Stijn Vandevelde’s research focuses on strengths-based approaches.

GOOD LIVES MODEL WORK

Stijn has been and still is involved in research focused on the application and implementation of the Good Lives Model, e.g. in treatment and support practices for mentally ill offenders and adolescents who have committed criminal offences.
Ghent University already has an established collaboration with the Victoria University of Wellington, organizing yearly 3-day workshops and booster sessions on the GLM in practice, provided by Prof. Ward and Dr. Barnao, since 2016. Also, together with ‘CAW Oost-Vlaanderen’, a GLM network has been constructed, aiming to stimulate ongoing exchange of GLM expertise and experiences between participants of the workshops.

Wouter Wanzeele

Professional Bachelor & Academic Master Social Work / Forensic therapist (clinical)

Contact Wouter

BIOGRAPHY

Wouter Wanzeele works as a social worker and forensic therapist at ‘Forensisch Ambulant Begeleidingsteam’ (‘CAW Oost-Vlaanderen’). In this outpatient service for wellbeing (located in Ghent) he treats people who committed sexual offences (tertiary prevention) and people who think they are going to commit a sexual offence (secondary prevention), including adults, adolescents, people with (intellectual) disabilities and people who deny.

Wouter also works as a therapist at ‘Psychotherapie-BRUG’ (‘Centrum Geestelijke Gezondheid Ahasverus’). This centre for mental healthcare offers therapy and pre-therapeutic counselling inside the prison of Brussels. In this setting Wouter provides group therapy for convicted detainees.
Besides his work as a clinician, Wouter is invited as a guest teacher to train students and other mental health professionals. He also publishes articles on good practices in the forensic field.

GOOD LIVES MODEL WORK

Wouter has experience in the implementation of the Good Lives Model in both individual and group therapy. In his work the model is applied to people who committed sex offences, and used in prison with people who committed other types of offences. One of the goals is to stimulate other clinicians to apply the model in different therapy contexts in society, e.g. prevention of radicalization towards terrorism.
By publishing good practices of the GLM and by constructing a GLM Network together with the University of Ghent, Wouter contributes to a bigger exchange of experiences with the GLM.  

Lore Van Damme

PhD, Special Needs Education

Contact Lore

BIOGRAPHY

In 2011, Lore Van Damme obtained the degree of Master in Pedagogical Sciences (Special Needs Education) at Ghent University. In November 2015, she obtained the degree of Doctor in Pedagogical sciences with a PhD regarding psychopathology and quality of life in detained female adolescents’ (promotor: Prof. Dr. Wouter Vanderplasschen; co-promotor: Dr. Olivier Colins). In December 2015 she started working as a doctoral assistant at the department of Special Needs Education, conducting research on the implementation and integration of the forensic rehabilitationmodels ‘What Works’ and the ‘Good Lives Model’ in closed institutions for forced care and treatment. In January 2017, she started working as a post-doctoral researcher, conducting research on the role of detained female adolescents' quality of life in explaining offending outcomes in emerging adulthood (i.e., a follow-up study of her PhD).

GOOD LIVES MODEL WORK

After conducting research on the implementation and integration of the forensic rehabilitationmodels ‘What Works’ and the ‘Good Lives Model’ in closed institutions for forced care and treatment, the post-doctoral research of Lore Van Damme aims to take an important next step towards a strength-based empowering perspective on detained female adolescents in particular. The focus is on studying detained female adolescents’ quality of life (QoL) to explain offending outcomes in emerging adulthood, relying on the strength-based Good Lives Model (GLM) of offender rehabilitation. The study is conducted in a sample of 147 detained female adolescents: it includes a quantitative and qualitative follow-up measurement 4 years after detention (T4), building on prior measurements at the start (T0), during (T1-2) and 6 months after detention (T3).

Ghent University already has an established collaboration with the Victoria University of Wellington, organizing yearly 3-day workshops and booster sessions on the GLM in practice, provided by Prof. Ward and Dr. Barnao, since 2016. Also, together with ‘CAW Oost-Vlaanderen’, a GLM network has been constructed, aiming to stimulate ongoing exchange of GLM expertise and experiences between participants of the workshops.

CANADIAN CONTACTS:

LEIGH HARKINS

PhD, C.Psych (Forensic)

Contact Leigh

Dr. Leigh Harkins is currently employed as a Lecturer at the University of Birmingham. Leigh is a Forensic Psychologist with the British Psychological Society and a Health Professions Council Registered Psychologist. Leigh has practice experience working in treatment groups for sexual offenders, completing psychological assessments in prisons and community criminal justice settings in Canada and the UK. Her current research interests focus on understanding sexual aggression and aggression in groups. An ongoing area of interest includes examining how to maximise treatment effectiveness with sexual offenders, including examination of the Good Lives Model and the role of risk, need, and responsivity factors. She is also interested in the impact of denial, group process variables and psychopathy on treatment. More recently she has begun examining aspects of sexual aggression committed by groups, and gang violence. Leigh has published manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals in the area of forensic psychology and has presented her research at international conferences.

Leigh is currently working on a project funded by the National Organisation for the Treatment of Abusers that examines the relationship between group process variables, treatment approach (e.g., GLM, Relapse Prevention) and group member satisfaction with treatment. This study will also examine the relationship between group process variables and group facilitators' ratings of treatment progress. This will be examined across a number of countries to determine whether group process factors, group member satisfaction, and successful treatment completion differ across different countries and treatment approaches.

French CONTACTS:

Erwan dieu

Dr Psychologie, Criminologue, EMDR-Europe©
Directeur général du Service de Criminologie ARCA

Contact Erwan

Dr Erwan Dieu is Criminologist (Master Criminology, University of Liège, Belgium) and PhD in Psychology (Psycho-criminology, University of Rennes 2, France). He is an EMDR-Europe practitioner© and officially trained in EMDR consultant. He currently the managing director of the Service of Criminology (ARCA) in France, under agreement with the ministries. He brings maximalist Restorative Justice in France, EMDR for the psychotherapy in criminology and GLM for the rehabilitation. He is the coordinator of the European research "3C2D" (Three Circles To Desistance) applied to France, Belgium and Italy concerning positive Criminology programmes (CeSURE) in detention applied to radicalization, extremist terrorism, violent behaviours (men, women, adults and youngs). He is the creator of the Temporal Identity Model (TIM-E) and Temporal Interviewing (TI) linking the GLM/SRM with the adaptive information processing (AIP) system in neuropsychology to focus the intervention on the development of future perspectives of offenders and victims.

GOOD LIVES MODEL WORK

His work leads to the creation of several tools to develop GLM in several contexts (ex. SPHERES), group modules, individual modules on Good Life Plan and Future Perspectives, emotional stabilization, as well as the immersive use of Virtual Reality (ex. FRED) in psychotraumatology and rehabilitative criminology. He edited the first collective book in French on the “GOOD LIVES MODEL (GLM)” (L'Harmattan, 2020). He is the author of several scientific articles on the links between GLM, Restorative Justice and Desistance.

PhD, MA Psych (Clinical)

Contact Mary

Dr Mary Barnao is a registered Clinical Psychologist who, up until recently worked for the regional forensic service in Wellington. In this role she provided assessment and treatment for people with major mental disorder and offending histories, supervised clinical psychologists and other mental health practitioners, and was involved in a range of innovative service development initiatives. These initiatives included implementing the GLM with forensic mental health service users in an inpatient setting.

Dr Barnao currently works part-time in her private practice, where she sees adults with a wide range of psychological issues. She is also employed as a Clinical Practice Advisor in the Clinical Psychology Programme at Victoria University of Wellington. This latter role entails teaching and supervising clinical psychology students’ work with clients.

Dr Barnao has authored journal articles pertaining to the application of the GLM in a forensic mental health context, rehabilitation frameworks in forensic mental health, ethical decision-making in forensic practice, and forensic service users’ perceptions of rehabilitation.

Dr Barnao has had experience applying the GLM with individual forensic service users. Her PhD explored the implementation of the GLM in a forensic mental health context. She has developed a set of GLM resources for use with forensic service users and a GLM training program for forensic mental health practitioners. More recently, she has consulted to a forensic intellectual disability service in New Zealand on the implementation of the GLM as a service framework. She has also provided training to mental health and correctional practitioners in Belgium on the application of the GLM, including its use with forensic service users.

MSc, PGDipClinPsy

Contact Peter

Peter Robertson is a registered Clinical Psychologist who works at the Te Korowai Whariki Central Region Forensic Service in Porirua, New Zealand. He works in a variety of settings with individuals who have mental disorders and have offended and as well as providing reports for the Court. Peter also supervises clinicians of varying disciplines and undertakes specialist assessments and reviews with individuals who have intellectual disabilities and have offended. He has a particular interest in working with clients with complex trauma presentations using Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) and in introducing the Good Lives Model to his clients and colleagues.

Peter is currently working on a PhD which pilots the Good Lives Model with clinicians in a secure forensic unit. The first phase of this research looks at how forensic clinicians currently view rehabilitation in a forensic service and in the second phase trains them in the use of the Good Lives Model as a framework for forensic practice. Peter’s clinical experience and passion for the Good Lives Model have also led him to use the GLM with clients and to want to: further explore the GLM as a supervision model/professional framework for clinicians; look at the GLM’s application to Maori clients and consider the use of the GLM with individuals with intellectual disabilities. Peter has enjoyed co-authoring articles with Tony Ward and Mary Barnao in which they have applied the Good Lives Model to a forensic population, considered an ethical framework for decision making, and looked at current rehabilitation in forensic mental health.

PhD, PGDipClinPsyc

Contact Gwenda

Dr. Gwenda Willis is a Senior Lecturer and registered Clinical Psychologist at The University of Auckland, New Zealand. Her research and publications focus on the tertiary prevention of sexual offending and canvas sex offender treatment, community re-entry, and community/policy responses to sex offenders. Gwen has received numerous awards and accolades for her research. In 2011, she spent six months in the US and Canada as a Fulbright Senior Scholar, evaluating applications of the Good Lives Model in North American treatment programmes.

Gwen's current GLM research focuses on the operationalisation and integration of the GLM into offender rehabilitation programmes, evaluating programme fidelity to the GLM, and assessment of GLM constructs. She also uses the GLM in her clinical work. Gwen is particularly interested in collaborating with agencies using the GLM to help advance empirical research into the effectiveness of GLM grounded interventions.

SINGAPORE CONTACTS:

DPsych (Clinical)

Contact Chi Meng

Chi Meng completed his Doctor of Clinical Psychology (Forensic Specialisation) at Monash University. He is a Deputy Director and concurrently the Senior Principal Clinical and Forensic Psychologist at the Clinical and Forensic Psychology Service, Ministry of Social and Family Development (Singapore). Specifically, Chi Meng oversees the Centre for Forensic Mental Health, the Centre for Research on Rehabilitation and Protection, as well as the Centre for Evaluation. In addition, he is an Adjunct Associate Professor with the Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore.

Chi Meng has several publications on GLM regarding the assessment and treatment of offenders. He is currently working to integrate GLM into RNR-based offender rehabilitation programmes in Singapore and has collaborated with various colleagues at the Ministry of Social and Family Development, as well as Singapore Prisons Service in this aspect. Chi Meng is interested in advancing empirical research on Good Lives Model treatment as well as the integration of GLM and SRM.

U.K. CONTACTS:

CQSW

Contact Bobbie

Bobbie Print is Director of G-MAP Services, a therapeutic centre for young people who have sexually harmed based in Manchester, UK. She is an Honorary Lecturer at University of Birmingham’s Department of Forensic and Family Psychology. Bobbie was a founding member of NOTA and is the lead author of the AIM2 model of initial assessments of young people who have sexually harmed.

G-MAP began as a multi-agency initiative in 1988 when it offered a service to young people who sexually abused others in the Greater Manchester area. Today the programme employs a multi-disciplinary staff team and offers an independent service to professionals, families and young people whose sexual behaviour causes concern.

Over the past six years G-MAP has used and adapted the Good Lives Model for use with adolescents who sexually harm. In particular the model is used to underpin problem formulation and intervention planning. We are currently involved in a research study to evaluate outcomes of the young people who participate in the GLM based programme. The initial findings have been submitted for publication - "Differences in the fulfilment of primary goods as measured by Good Lives Approach (GLA) evaluation tools: A youth comparison". Additionally submitted for separate publication is a paper that provides a case description of the way the model is used in practice – “Application of the Good Lives approach to adolescent males who sexually harm: A case study”.

PhD, C.Psych (Forensic)

Contact Theresa

Theresa A. Gannon is Professor in Forensic Psychology and Director of the Centre of Research and Education in Forensic Psychology at the University of Kent, UK. She is also a Chartered Forensic Psychologist and works for Kent Forensic Psychiatry Services providing treatment for sexual offenders and arsonists. Theresa has authored over 100 book chapters and journal articles in forensic psychology focusing on sexual offending, arson, and treatment and rehabilitation.

Theresa uses the Good Lives Model in much of her practice work with sexual offenders and arsonists. She has developed a treatment programme (the Good Lives Sexual Offender Treatment Programme) for mentally disordered offenders (Kent Psychiatry Services) and is currently preparing an arson treatment programme for both prisons and the mental health population that will incorporate Good Lives Components.

Ph.D., LCSW

Contact Jill

Jill Levenson is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Human Services at Lynn University in Boca Raton, FL. She is also a licensed clinical social worker with over 23 years of experience treating sexual abuse victims, survivors, perpetrators, and non-offending parents. She currently provides outpatient sex offender treatment to probationers in Florida. Dr. Levenson’s research includes investigating public policies designed to prevent sexual violence, including sex offender registration, Megan's Law, and residential restrictions. She has examined the effectiveness of those polices on sex offense recidivism as well as the impact of the laws on sex offender reintegration. She has been a co-investigator or consultant on four grants funded by the U.S. Department of Justice. In addition to policy analysis, Dr. Levenson also researches treatment practices with sex offender clients. She has published over eighty articles and book chapters and has co-authored three books on the treatment of sex offenders and their families.

Dr. Levenson is currently on several projects related to two key areas in line with the GLM. First is the prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) and the relationship of trauma to adult health, mental health, and behavioral outcomes.

The second area is that of Trauma Informed Care. Trauma-informed care (TIC) is a model of service delivery which incorporates evidence about the prevalence and impact of early trauma on behavior across the lifespan. TIC occurs in a safe and client-centered environment in which service providers view and respond to maladaptive behavior in the context of traumatic experiences. TIC models incorporate data about trauma into practices that promote respect for clients, encourage self determination, and facilitate the rebuilding of healthy relational skills which are often renounced in favor of interpersonal survival skills in the face of childhood maltreatment. Trauma Informed Care provides an innovative framework for facilitating change in a sex offender population within a larger model of evidence based treatment and GLM.

LICSW

Contact David

Mr. Prescott has worked in the field of assessing and treating sexual aggression for 30 years. He serves as Director of Professional Development and Clinical Director for the Becket Family of Services, which provide treatment for troubled adults, youth, and families in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts.

Mr. Prescott has published 13 books on the assessment and treatment of people who have sexually abused. He has written numerous articles and book chapters in these areas as well. Mr. Prescott is on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Sexual Aggression and a Section Editor for the journal Motivational Interviewing: Training, Research, Implementation, Practice. He currently writes articles for the NEARI Press Newsletter, which has a monthly circulation of over 10,000.

Mr. Prescott is a Past President of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA), and editor of that organization's newsletter, The Forum, from 2002-2007. He is the 2014 recipient of that organization’s Distinguished Practitioner Award.

Mr. Prescott is a charter member of the International Association for the Treatment of Sex Offenders and has also served on the board of directors for Stop It Now!, an organization dedicated to the prevention of sexual abuse. Mr. Prescott is also a Certified Trainer for the International Center for Clinical Excellence and a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT), an international organization devoted to a client-centered, directive method for enhancing intrinsic motivation to change by exploring and resolving ambivalence.

Mr Prescott has been pivotal in the integration of the Good Lives and Self-Regulation Models and has made a significant contribution to sex offender treatment by operationalising this sophisticated approach.