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Long Version
Section 5: An Overview of Sex Offender Treatment for a Non–Clinical Audience
What to Look for in a Treatment Provider
30 minutes

TOPIC: LOCATING SEX OFFENDER–SPECIFIC TREATMENT PROVIDERS
(5 minutes)

Some of you might be wondering how to locate qualified and competent sex offender–specific treatment providers in your jurisdiction. If you live in a state where treatment providers are regulated in some way, your task might be quite simple. A list of treatment providers, typically referred to as approved or certified providers, is usually available from your state or local regulatory body (typically a sex offender management task force or council). However, this is likely to be the case in only a minority of states. If you live in a state without a regulatory body, you may have to look further to identify well qualified sex offender–specific treatment providers. There are two national sources of information that might be of help to you.

The Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers maintains a state–by–state list of all of its members, which numbers well over 2,000 nationally. Most states also have active State Chapters. ATSA can provide you key contact information for its membership in your state.

The Safer Society Foundation is another source of information and is particularly helpful in identifying treatment programs, both outpatient and residential (you’ll recall that Safer Society conducted the national survey we reviewed earlier).

The contact information for both of these organizations is on the slide.

Here are a few other suggestions and ideas about locating sex offender–specific treatment providers and building treatment capacity in your jurisdiction:

• Success in finding and courting potential providers can be enhanced with the appropriate incentives. If there are trained and knowledgeable treatment providers and probation/parole agents in your area, those individuals might offer free training, and ongoing supervision and consultation services, to other providers who are interested in working with this offender population.
  
• When reaching out to potential treatment providers, supervision agencies will want to emphasize the notable goal of preventing sexual abuse and be as reasonable as possible in terms of the number of referrals and payment for services. That is, it is unlikely that treatment providers will want to work with large numbers of sex offenders for minimal (or no) payment.
  
• Treatment providers who work in the area of substance abuse and domestic violence often can make a relatively easy transition to working with sex offenders. Many of the treatment principles and approaches are similar, though sex offender–specific training is still entirely necessary.
  
• You may also want to consult O’Connell’s, Leberg’s, and Donaldson’s book (1990) entitled “Working with Sex Offenders: Guidelines for Therapist Selection.” It provides an excellent description of treatment provider qualifications and attributes.