The working alliance and readiness to change in clients who have criminally offended

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to highlight the importance of readiness to change as an influential factor in the working alliance with clients who have offended. This article provides a review of the literature on frameworks for offender rehabilitation and a working alliance model for forensic populations. Recidivism and stages of change, as evidence for the serious consideration of readiness as part of the working alliance, are discussed. A review of the literature on readiness to change in clients who have offended, as well as a visual representation of our model, are provided. Implications for research, theory, and practice are also considered.

KEYWORDS:

• Working alliance
• treatment readiness
• offenders
• rehabilitation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.