Therapeutic communities and facilitating change

This chapter describes the development of a fantasy modification programme designed to integrate skills through which to manage inappropriate sexual or violent fantasies within a democratic therapeutic community (DTC). It explains the context of the DTC in which the programme runs. The programme was developed when it was noted that several residents needed additional support through which to manage intrusive sexual thoughts. As they were in the middle of their therapeutic journey, they could not leave and access specialist offending behaviour programmes through which to manage these. The thoughts may well have been triggered by the work they were undertaking and the memories and feelings this evoked. Therefore, it was useful to continue the specialist work within the context of therapy. Residents participated in the programme and then continued to discuss how they applied the skills learned as part of their ongoing therapy. The chapter goes on to report on the theory underpinning the programme, the behaviour modification techniques, and how they are applied. It uses a case study to illustrate the progress made. It finishes by discussing the findings and limitations of the programme.