Positive Effects On Sex Offenders

3.9 Discussion
The findings of this study endeavour to provide a balanced account of both negative and positive impacts for therapists working with sex offenders and what became evident was that although each participant had their own unique experience of the work, they all shared some similarities, which emerged through the themes and subthemes.
It is concerning to note that despite sexual offending being on the increase in today’s society, the organisation in which the participants worked, is the only one in Ireland working with non-convicted adult sex offenders, which raises the question as to why there are not more organisations working with this client group helping to reduce recidivism within the community. It appears the answer could

Previous research (Marshall et al, 2006) concluded that in order to work effectively with sex offenders and promote positive outcomes, the person-centred approach with a firm but supportive challenge was needed, which concur with the results of this study, which show by seeing sex offenders as human beings, rather than succumbing to societal preconceptions of them being ‘monsters’, and engaging in an empathic and compassionate manner whilst providing unconditional positive regard together with a firm and respectful approach helped sex offenders engage. A consideration of the participants’ positive attitude towards sex offenders, could relate to them having been initially trained in the person-centred approach, which advocates empathy, genuiness and unconditional positive regard, which corresponds to the findings of Nelson et al (2002). However, although participants were able to see sex offenders as human beings they still struggled with the abhorrent nature of their crimes, which agreed with the findings of previous research (Scaletta,

However, these studies also concluded the aforementioned factors to be indicators of vicarious trauma and yet it was interesting to note that none of the participants alluded to having experienced either, although they did have to monitor their potential for burnout in order to prevent it. The fact that participants had not experienced vicarious trauma or burnout contradicted previous research studies (Way et al., 2004; Ennis & Horne, 2003; Farrenkopf, 1992; Kadambi & Truscott, 2003, Rich, 1997; Jayoung et al., 2010). One of the reasons for the participants not having experienced these symptoms might be to do with their awareness of the stress in this work and as a result having implemented various types of coping strategies and self-care procedures to combat this, which concurred with findings of previous research (Jackson et al., 1997, Rich, 1997). The results of this study also showed none of the participants experienced diminished hopes and expectations around the potential of change for offenders, nor did they experience desensitation or a hardening or dulling of emotions as a result of the work, which contrasted to previous studies (Farrenkopf,