Managing Personality Disordered Offenders

Abstract

Managing Personality Disordered Offenders: A Pathways Approach describes the development and implementation of the Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) strategy in the UK. It begins by reviewing the existing evidence base for interventions for personality disordered offenders in the UK and elsewhere, before outlining the principles and requirements of the strategy and how it has been implemented in the community and secure settings in London and south-east England by the London Pathways Partnership (LPP). The LPP is a consortium of four mental health trusts working together with the probation and prison services to deliver community and secure OPD services: individual chapters, written by leaders within the LPP and wider OPD pathway, address key aspects, including staff selection and training; case identification and formulation; intervening in the community and in secure settings; service user involvement; and commissioning and joint working. Each chapter includes an authoritative review of the relevant evidence base, together with consideration of available options and the rational for the approach chosen for services in London. This is followed by a practical ‘how to do it’ guide and review of what has worked and what has not during the first four years of service delivery. Each chapter includes a section on evaluation and proposals regarding possible ‘next steps’. The book concludes with a formulation-based analysis of whether or not the OPD strategy has had any impact on its stated outcomes and how these might be re-evaluated as the mechanisms by which change is achieved in the pathway become better understood.