The Tender Topic of Relapse in Community Corrections

While doing Motivational Interviewing training with community corrections staff, we began discussing the stages of change and specifically the topic of relapse. The stage of relapse brought up an interesting discussion with the group about which clients should get second chances.  

John: “I can see giving the direct sentence clients a second chance but I don’t think the clients coming from prison should get any chances, if they relapse, they are gone.  They should be grateful they even got a chance to get out of prison.”

Lisa: “What do other people think about that?”

Susie: “I think that this is a treatment program and we need to provide the client with treatment, terminating them isn’t going to do anything.”

Josie: “It depends on the client, does he want help?”

Jim: “A lot of times these clients who relapse act like they want help around admin and case management staff but we hear what they really say.  They know they can get away with using and just ask for help.”

The conversation went back and forth with valid points in each direction.