Developing a trauma-sensitive, compassion focused substance misuse treatment intervention for prisoners

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present a newly developed substance misuse treatment intervention, which has been devised from an extensive review of the literature relating to the prevalence and repercussions of trauma amongst people who use forensic services and use substances. The clinical utility and applicability of integrating Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) within the context of delivering this new intervention is discussed. As the first pilot is preparing to launch at a high secure site, this paper provides a descriptive, theoretical account of the programme and the rationale for the various components.