ABSTRACT
This chapter will discuss how therapeutic environments are created and sustained. It will explore how environments which promote treatment engagement are established. It will consider some of the defining characteristics of healthy relationships and consider the interpersonal and systemic factors which contribute to healthy relationships being developed and sustained. It will argue that positive relationships within forensic residential settings should be the central component of effective interventions and regimes driven by a focus on healthy relationships can provide the most effective outcomes and a model for humane containment. The importance of healthy relationships within staff teams will also be discussed and ways to foster enabling relationships within staff teams explored. The chapter will consider the extent to which factors which promote healthy relationships are relevant across different cultures. It will conclude by examining how a culture which promotes healthy relationships can be built and sharing examples of good practice.
