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Over the past three years, I have developed a specialty in working with individuals facing criminal charges in Ontario. I see individauals involved in assault (including domestic assault, general assault, sexual assault and assulting police officers) criminal harassment, drug possession, driving under the influence of alcohol and theft/fraud. Most clients are referred to me by their lawyers, and I provide a letter to your lawyer for the Court and Crown that outlines issues discussed and progress made in counselling. I use a psycho-educational approach where I provide information to clients that helps them understand themselves better and provide insight that helps them understand how they got involved in criminal charges and how make permanent change to avoid such incidents in the future. I also allow clients the opportunity to discover insight for themselves in a way that creates deep understanding and change for the individual.
With clients facing criminal charges, I conduct a thorough intake and then customize counselling based around a number of key themes which usually involve - stress management, mental health counselling (if conditions like mood or anxiety disorders are present), alcohol and substance abuse counselling, relationship counselling, anger management and dealing with employment and financial issues.
When clients are charged with domestic or partner assault I use a PAR (Partner Assault Response) approach and agenda in an individual counselling setting. PARS approaches and programs are supported by the Ministry of the Attorney General and cover specific aspects of domestic abuse. Individual counselling for PARS includes counselling on:
- Moving from intimidation of a partner to engaging in non-threatening behaviour
- Moving from emotional abuse and manipulation to engaging in open, honest, direct and respectful communications with partners
- Learning how to support a partner, their needs and their goals
- Avoidance of minimizing, denial and blaming a partner to creating a relationship based on honesty and accountability
- Addressing parenting and financial issues if they are relevant to the relationship
- Discussing distribution of responsibility in the relationship
- How to negotiate fairly without using intimidation and threats
Recent studies on the PARS program measure some of the following outcomes, which are also addressed directly during the psycho-educational counselling I provide for individuals facing domestic assault charges:
- Disavowal of responsibility in the relationship
- Disproportionaltely blaming partners for one's own shortcomings
- Denial of the charges and actions against the individual
- Addressing and abating abuse-supporting thoughts and cognitions
- Learning how to control tempers and anger
- Fostering approaches to a relatonship that do not support violence
- Addressing general family conflict in a positive manner
- Making the accused aware of their feelings and fostering empathy, understanding and respect for the feelings of the partner
