ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the use of Pre-Therapy within a forensic setting as an engagement tool for use with clients with whom psychological contact is difficult to maintain because of their psychosis or withdrawal. It explains Pre-Therapy in the context of current developments in person-centred therapy, phenomenological perspectives on psychosis and from a wider recovery-oriented perspective. Pre-Therapy is concerned with using contact reflections to assist the individual in a journey from their pre-expressive self, back to being in full contact with reality: the expressive self. There are five types of contact reflections, namely, situational reflections, facial reflections, body reflections, word-for-word reflections, and reiterative reflections. Affective contact requires individuals to recognize that they are a generator of their own emotions. Contact reflections assist in grounding the individual in the present moment with definitive statements or observations that relate to something tangible and overt.
