Art therapy as a shared forensic investigation

Abstract

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to promote art therapy as a specialist agent in the treatment of personality disordered offenders. The paper will argue that art therapy needs to be of measurable benefit to offender-clients, to overall services provided by secure therapeutic units and to the public whom these services serve with the aim of reducing recidivism. The paper will define art therapy as a process which requires careful ground-rules to be set, mutual commitments to be negotiated, interpersonal roles and outcome objectives to be understood, and challenging and compassionate assessments to be fed back. Points raised in the paper will be illustrated by a case profile.