Innovative alcohol- and drug-user treatment of inmates in New Zealand prisons.
The Kowhai Alcohol and Drug Treatment Unit at Rolleston Prison offers an innovative treatment approach for New Zealand inmates. The development of the program has involved local staff from Public Prisons, Psychological Services, and the Community Probation Service (CPS). This presentation outlines the author's impression of this bold innovation. The primary aim of the program is to reduce recidivism. This is achieved by assisting inmates to recognize the thoughts, emotions, and behaviours that are present in the period preceding and/or during the commission of criminal activity--particularly those that are precipitated and/or maintained by alcohol and drug use. This insight, coupled with the learning of specific coping skills and intensive lifestyle and reintegration planning, leads naturally to the follow-up phase that is conducted in the community. The functional relationship between offending and substance use is far more explicitly addressed in this new program compared with past programs that focused more on substance use.
Te Arawa/Ngäti Porou, Community Probation Service, Department of Corrections, Christchurch, New Zealand. terry_huriwai@moh.govt.nz
Terry
T
Huriwai
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D001364:Awareness; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003415:Crime / Q000208:ethnology / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs; D008019:Life Style; D009520:New Zealand; D010348:Patient Care Team; D011329:Prisoners / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology*; D011330:Prisons; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs; D012008:Recurrence; D012917:Social Adjustment; D016320:Substance Abuse Treatment Centers; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*
D013287:Illicit Drugs; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs