ABSTRACT
The sexual offender either lacks that control or experiences strong urges that he finds it impossible to refrain from action. For a number of years through the 1970s and 1980s, relapse prevention reigned as the predominant method of treating sexual offenders and was proposed as an all-embracing program of total treatment. An in-house program there featured only overall educational group therapy. Attempting to reduce a sexual offender’s risk to reoffend involves learning a great deal of personal information about his sexual habits and fantasies, and many offenders, even those mandated to treatment and trying to participate, will find the sensitive information too difficult to share in group. The multi-technique model, employed in clinic and in many others across the country and the world, involves shaping the total treatment program to fit each particular offender. In general, the model stresses that the therapist be considered to operate in a supportive, rather than a judgmental, environment.
