Reimagining Partnerships

Abstract

This chapter considers one particular partnership, the Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) pathway, a jointly commissioned strategy between NHS England and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). With OPD treatment pathways largely existing within residential environments and with several DTCs existing within prisons, we explore the positive potential of probation partnerships, focusing upon the possibility of developing of democratic therapeutic communities (DTCs) operating in community settings that can work predominately with people with personality disorder traits who have high risk and high harm convictions including sexual convictions and serious violence. An historical overview of DTCs is provided and historical examples of organisational partnership with probation is briefly covered. Drawing upon the four forms of rehabilitation, this chapter explores the applicability of the DTC model to the desistance journey within a community setting. We consider the four forms; personal, social, moral and judicial, taking each one to illustrate a particular aspect of DTCs, beginning with a broad encapsulation of what a DTC does and progressing towards specific practice and rituals within TCs. We explain the multiple layers of DTCs and how this partnership approach within probation could aid the desistance journey for some of the most complex probation cases. Alongside the desistance framework we have sought to draw out the commonalities of the four forms of rehabilitation with the five universal qualities (theoretical principles) for therapeutic communities (attachment, containment, communication, involvement, and agency). We consider the research evaluating the effectiveness of DTCs for people with emotionally complex needs and conclude by noting some of the implementation considerations.