The Process of Change

One item of importance is the formation of an adequate theoretical grounding for rehabilitation. Research has started to uncover some of what works, but not why it works. Andrews et al.'s (1990) RNR model, while useful, has been criticized for lacking in a theoretical base, and for not providing enough guidance on what to actually do in order to address dynamic factors (Ward and Maruna, 2007: 51-65).

Blanchard (2001) examined the experiences of violent youth mandated to counseling sessions as a mode of rehabilitation. The sample of eight participants was obtained from the Department of Juvenile Services in southern Louisiana. This was a purposeful sample of male violent offenders between the ages of 12 and 18 who had various experiences in counseling. All participants were selected from an Intensive Supervision Program that included time in a detention facility (one to two weeks), followed by house arrest as part of probation. Participants must have committed at least one violent offence to be included in the study, such as simple assault, aggravated assault, sexual assault, gang fights, strong-arm robbery, or homicide. Participants also had to be re-offenders, meaning that they had committed at least one previous criminal or non-criminal offence. Individual and/or group counseling sessions occurred at least once per week throughout the entirety of the intensive supervision program (Blanchard, 2001: 36-41).

Blanchard found that participants generally found current counseling sessions to be more positive than previous experiences with counseling because of the relationship with program counselors (Blanchard, 2001: 105-106). While this finding is not generalizable due to the incredibly small sample, it highlights the importance of studying the therapeutic relationship in terms of rehabilitation.