Book Reviewer Susan Ready reviews The I-94 Murders: https://sockfairies.blogspot.com/2018/10/book-review-i-94-murders.html Frank presenting at the Minnesota Rehabilitative Association conference Guiding Individuals with Mental Illness & Sexual Issues into Employment Frank Weber, M.S./L.P., Clinical Director of CORE Professional Services PA Employment is structure. CORE works closely with RISE, as they assist individuals coming out of incarceration with securing work. RISE does excellent work, but are underfunded for the need People need a purpose. If you can’t find purpose in the work, you can find it in the paycheck. We live in a community. Work allows people to contribute to their community. People need work (paid or volunteer). Work helps them feel connected the community Circle of X’s- Labeled “Community” When people in the Cree community identify an individual who is struggling, they ask various healthy people to stop over, day after day to talk to them. Rupert Ross, Prosecutor in Ontario, wrote a great book about this titled, Returning to the Teachings. Quote from Cree Elder when asked, “Do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth? “No, I don’t know the whole truth. Isn’t it your job to determine what the truth is?” Travis Hirschi’s Control Theory. (Instead of asking, “Why are people deviant?” We should ask, “Why isn’t everyone deviant?” Hirschi found, 4 reasons:
Working Through Shame People who have been charged with an offense often carry so much shame associated with it, that they get angry when anyone, including an employer, asks them about it. An employer who cares about the community should ask questions. I tell people that when you take responsibility for your behavior, it ends the rumors. “I made a mistake, but I’ve made changes.” When you minimize, it forces people to ask questions There isn’t a 1 size fits all safety plan for sex offenders, but there is moral behavior that is right in all circumstances. There are huge differences in the risk presented by an 18 year old who is charged with a statutory offense for dating a 15 year old, and someone who sexually assaults a child. The advantage of having a psychosexual assessment completed is that the offender’s risks are individualized specific to the offender. Safety Plan People who are dealing with a problematic pattern of behavior are taught to get through the second, minute, hour, day. You avoid the trigger or the risk by keeping yourself busy doing something else. Intelligent people plan in order to avoid risk on a day to day basis. “Even people who believe in fate look both ways before they cross the street.” Goals are listed as they go back to Hirschi’s idea of Belief & Commitment. You can’t live by values if you don’t identify them. Our job is to help everyone. (The clients and the community.) We have to balance the risk to the community with the benefit to the client. Sometimes the risk is too great, even though it could have great benefit to the client. You can’t help people close to you if you put your job at risk. (Applies to both you and the client.) We all have restrictions. (We have windows in therapists offices for the sake of the therapist. It would be foolish for me to interview a client alone who accused last professional of poor sexual boundaries.). Take care of yourself. I don’t tolerate abuse so if someone is being obnoxious I’ll end the phone call. (I’ve had people ask, “You’re not going to hang up on me are you?” If they’re being obnoxious I respond, “If you’re still on the line in 5 seconds, yes.” Problems created by behavior cannot be resolved with words alone. Being sorry isn’t enough. Learning is defined as a change in behavior as a result of experience. If your behavior hasn’t changed, you haven’t learned Internal Barriers. Do they:
External Barriers Staff supervision or job coach. “God may forgive you, but the rest of need evidence—a track record.” Are the coworkers aware of concerns. (For example: A doctor with an ethics violation told staff) Find or create an environment that doesn’t allow the opportunity to offend Many of the people we help aren’t easy to work with. When I am dealing with a difficult person I tell myself, “God put people like you on this earth just to prove I can be a decent person." Anger - No matter how difficult they present, I can use this to help them.
So many people come in here and talk my ear off. It’s such a relief to have someone just sit and listen to my advice. Plus, I’ve heard moments of silence can be some of the most powerful moments in therapy. I can’t believe we got to this point so quickly. My response: “It’s worse than you think.” I get so frustrated with it. After giving them a moment to vent, I say, “Let’s focus on what we can do about your situation. When they bring it up again, I point out, “How come I’m the only one who wants you to move forward? There’s no future in the past.” Take advantage of their narcissism. I might say, “Most people struggle with understanding this, but I think you’re someone who could work his way through this.” Reward positive behavior. 3 genuine +’s for every confrontation. People won’t listen to you until they’re convinced you’re invested in them.
Schizophrenia Accept that some days will be unproductive. The key to success is “low goals.” I’m not saying people aren’t capable of great things. People come in to therapy because they’re struggling, so don’t expect them to fix everything at once. I will give you a simple physical example. A group home asked that I develop a program to get a schizophrenic man to place his clothes in the laundry basket in the closet. (Pretty minimal problem when you consider he was once an arsonist who physically injured people and we now had that all resolved.) I told them to place the laundry basket in the middle of his bedroom and every week move it an inch closer to the closet. In one year, he was placing his clothes in the laundry basket in the closet. Impulse Disorder Impulsive people benefit from being active. Most individuals diagnosed with ADHD don’t need medication as adults as they have jobs that allow them to get up and move around Autism Often obsessive by nature. (People who request a sex change are seven times more likely to have an Autism diagnosis.) (not all obsessions are bad) Help them find an obsession that’s not harmful. If they can get into trains, take them to a railroad station or on a train ride. If you don’t guide the obsession they will find their own Histrionic Your needs can’t come above your employer in your work performance. “If it was fun, they wouldn’t pay people to do it.” I like to help people, but I can’t devote my day to one person. Porn is not a solution. Porn takes sex completely out of the context of loving and caring relationships. Over-stimulating the limbic system isn’t good for you. Fish will hit on a chartreuse fish lure over a live minnow. People will hit on porn over developing a relationship. Rats have a similar limbic system and will press a bar to have that same area stimulated (when people access porn) until they’re dead. They won’t eat or drink water. They just keep pushing the bar. And that’s what people are when they access porn. I have to feel your life means more than that. How do you decide what is porn? We don’t have to. It has an X rating and is packed in bags. Beyond obvious porn, consider does the material lead to problematic behavior. If the client acknowledges having fantasies of abusive behavior after watching children’s movies or reading children’s books, they shouldn’t have them. We need to act in the best interest of people who don’t act in the best interests of themselves. Sometimes the right behavior needs to occur before people will make the right choices. I’ve worked with people who never would have achieved sobriety if they hadn’t been incarcerated Sex is like boxing. If you’re both not consenting one of you is committing a crime. Emotions---Thoughts---Behaviors People get into trouble when they experience strong emotions and we let them guide their thoughts in an unhealthy direction. Behaviors---Thoughts---Emotions To resolve this, I ask people to focus on engaging in the right behavior (even if it doesn’t make sense), and the healthy thoughts will follow “One thing leads to another. Not always. Sometimes one thing leads to the same thing. Ask any addict.” -George Carlin Ultimately to help people with mental illness or sexual issues maintain work, you need to analyze the day, and make a plan for addressing all of the risks.
My healthy obsession is writing mysteries. Thanks for listening, Frank The Deals visit Minnesota Halloween in Leonardtown Avery Weber is two months old!
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AuthorFrank F. Weber is a forensic psychologist specializing in homicide and sexual and physical assault cases. He uses his unique understanding of how predator’s think, knowledge of victim trauma, actual court cases, and passion for writing true crime thrillers. His Award Winning books include "Murder Book" (2017) "The I-94 Murders" (2018) "Last Call" (2019) and "Lying Close" (September 2020). Archives
April 2024
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