Motivating offenders to change in therapy: An organizing framework

Objectives. Motivating offenders to change in therapy is an important aspect of effective offender treatment, yet despite this, offenders' motivation to change has received little close attention in the academic and professional literature. This situation is a result of an over‐emphasis on the risk management model of rehabilitation, and a consequent failure to construe motivation within an overarching theory of offender rehabilitation. Method. We present a social cognitive model of offender motivation — the Good Lives Model (GLM) — that provides a framework for incorporating factors that have been shown to be of importance in enhancing offender motivation. This is based upon the notion that all humans strive to achieve primary goods that are intrinsically rewarding and essential to well‐being. Where offenders are concerned, criminogenic problems relate, not to the goods offenders seek, but to the way they seek them. Any treatment approach should take this into account and focus positively on equipping people with the skills required to achieve goals rather than simply look to manage risk. The motivational construct that we use here is that of goals. In the GLM, goals are the less abstract depictions of primary human goods and it is with these that people are typically engaged in their day‐to‐day activities and lives. Looking at therapeutic goal‐setting, methods and styles of therapy, and therapist approaches, we derive theoretically‐based key issues in motivating offenders to change in therapy. Conclusion. In conclusion, we present a summary of 12 strategies and techniques that will not only help practitioners enhance their therapeutic effectiveness, but hopefully also act as a catalyst in the development of research on offenders' motivation to change.