Introduction
Counseling involves the psychological treatment given to a patient who is mentally and emotionally undergoing some issues that they cannot control and seek a psychologist or professional to intervene. Criminal justice offenders require this kind of rehabilitation to safeguard their healthy being as they serve their sentences. Notably, after the conviction of criminal justice offenders, they usually need this care to ascertain their mental well-being. Evans and Ward., (2019) argue that counseling involves clinical meetings where the psychologist meets with the criminal justice offenders, and the offender narrates the issues and problems they are undergoing. The psychologist listens and comes up with various treatment schemes for the patient’s problems. As the criminal justice offender narrates their problems to the psychologist, the psychologist tries to devise the best medication treatment for the patient from the various treatment methods and theories.
Description of Clinical Issues and the Possible Reasons for the Issues
Criminal justice offenders undergo stress, depression, low self-esteem, hatred, rejection, and bullying in their tenure of punishment. Stress and depression come in when criminal justice offenders are separated from their loved ones and isolated. The urge to see their family members deteriorates with time as they serve their sentences, making them more empty and sorrowful to see their children, wives, and husbands (Levenson et al., 2020). Low self-esteem comes in when society and their family members discriminate against the offenders for the crimes they have committed, which leads to most offenders being psychologically weak and hurt and feeling rejected by society and family even if they were released. Also, other offenders are falsely accused of their crimes, leading to their feeling unwanted by society and severe depression and hatred toward themselves. Bullying is another reason and issue that criminal justice offenders face while in prison. The offenders are usually manipulated by other violent criminals to pay them money or whatever their family members brought them to be given to them. However, other offenders are sodomized and raped by their inmates and prison officers, leading to mental sickness (Levenson et al., 2020). If the offenders are raped or sodomized daily without getting help, they become stressed and depressed and may develop suicidal thoughts. All these comprise the challenges and issues faced by offenders in the criminal justice system and the need for psychologists and counselors to aid the offenders with help.
Management Strategies
Habituation with Exposure
A treatment approach called exposure and social conditioning might assist Criminal Justice offenders in confronting their anxieties and phobias. The idea is to deal with the stimuli that make them fearful so that they can develop a tolerance for those things, ideas, or situations. However, this entails facing fear and dealing with the resulting emotions (Masters., 2021). The objective is to inspire confidence that interactions with just what troubles them will not always have unfavorable outcomes.
Therapeutic Schema
Schema therapy combines strategies from other forms of therapy. Also, this is centered on the idea that every person has “conceptual frameworks,” which are solid and ingrained ideas frequently reinforced by daily routines of behavior and thought. Therapy aims to identify, challenge, and replace a person’s wrong schemas with many more constructive ones. It might incorporate imagery, role-playing, and creating creativity (Rio et al., 2021). The counselor can use this type of treatment towards the treatment of the offenders, which will provide positive results.
Conclusion
Criminal justice system offenders require counseling to enhance their well-being in prison settings. Notably, they undergo stress, depression, mistreatment, and rejection during their tenure. Also, there need to be counseling departments that will help them deal with these issues to avoid them committing suicide. The treatments that need to be given to them include; Therapeutic Schema and Habituation with Exposure treatment. More attention needs to be given to criminal Justice offenders as they are also human beings who must be given care.
References
Evans, C. T., & Ward, C. (2019). Counseling sex offenders and the importance of counselor self-care. Cogent Social Sciences. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/shareview/10.1080/23311886.2019.1595878
Levenson, J. S., Grady, M. D., & Morin, J. W. (2020). Beyond the “ick factor”: Counseling non-offending persons with pedophilia. Clinical Social Work Journal, 48(4), 380–388. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=10825633876872022613&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en
Masters, R. E. (2021). Counseling criminal justice offenders. Sage publications. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=9491088188632883522&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en
Rio, J., Heckman, L., & Tippett, H. (2021). A content analysis of the offender population in counseling journals. Journal of Addictions & Offender Counseling, 42(1), 50–64. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jaoc.12089
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