ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses how the concept of therapeutic alliance can provide a framework upon which the strength of engagement between the client and the programme provider can be understood, and how programme providers might respond to clients who present with low levels of treatment readiness. Many offenders attend rehabilitation programmes because they are mandated to be there and, as a result, some may be either poorly motivated to attend, or attend unwillingly. It is suggested in this chapter that it is the skill, knowledge and attitude that a programme facilitator or therapist brings to the programme that can determine how well each individual participant engages with programme content, how well group members work together, and, ultimately, exert a profound infuence on the extent to which participants beneft from the programme. The argument that is advanced in this chapter, then, is that diffculties in forming an alliance in the early stages of a rehabilitation programme are more likely to occur in offenders who might be considered as having low levels of readiness, but it is the way in which treatment providers respond to this that will ultimately determine how well offenders perform.