1. What research tells us about how to organise and deliver case-management work with offenders DOMICE September 2011 Barcelona
Beth Weaver
Fergus McNeill 1

2. AIMS
To scope out some of the implications of desistance research for case management.
Outline some key findings about what research tells us about the process of desistance and how to support it.
Consider how desistance research informs the role and purposes of case management.
Discuss the potential implications of desistance research for construction and process of case management. 2

3. Subjective Narratives, Attitudes and Motivation Life Transitions and
Age and Maturity
Subjective Narratives,
Attitudes and Motivation
Life Transitions and
Social Bonds 3

4. Supporting Desistance
Hope is a critical factor in desistance and can promote agency (Burnett and Maruna 2004; Farrall and Calverly 2006; Lloyd and Serin 2011; LeBel et al 2008).
Personal and professional relationships are key to change.
Desistance requires supportive relational networks and the development of social capital.
Desistance requires not just opportunities to acquire social capital but also to expend it - generativity (Barry 2010; Maruna 2001; McNeill and Maruna 2008).

5. A Relational Approach to Case Management
Case management processes and practices are co-constructed in relationships between practitioners and offenders (Leibrich 1993; 1994; Rex 1999; Barry 2000; Burnett 2004; Holt 2000; Hopkinson and Rex 2003; McNeill et al 2005).
Case managers have a role in supporting development / maintenance of relationships with families and friends - and engaging those people in change process (Shapiro and DiZerega 2010; Trotter 2010; Volvegang and Van Alphen 2010).
Building collaborative relationships between justice services, voluntary and faith-based organisations and communities (O’Connor and Bogue 2010).

6. A Relational Approach to Case Management
Moving beyond the individual and their perceived cognitive deficits.
Looking beyond the interventions and operations of service.
Focussing on what individuals, their families and volunteers may be able to contribute (Clinks: Prison Reform Trust 2010; Uggen 2004; Weaver 2011; Weaver forthcoming).

7. Embedding (McNeill 2009: TEPiOS) www. sccjr. ac
Embedding (McNeill 2009: TEPiOS)
See also Changing Lives - provided 7

8. Assess Plan Prepare Relate Engage Review and Evaluate
What do we together see as
the problems
Which are the priorities
Who are the people involved
Complete assessment forms
Plan
How are we going to tackle
the problems
What are our shared,
realistic objectives
Who will do that, by when?
Prepare
Relate
Engage
Review and Evaluate
How far have the objectives
been achieved
Record evidence for these
Highlight achievements
Note items for new cycle
Implement the plan
Put plan into effect. Keep records
Monitor that agreed steps are
being taken at specified times
Troubleshoot difficulties
Highlight achievements
See TEPiOS, Changing Lives and McNeill et al 2005
The ASPIRE process comes from the NOMS offender management model. The offender management process is captured by ASPIRE which sets out its cyclical format. McNeill points out that while this works well as an account of some of the key stages of practice, the relational aspect is a necessary PRE cursor. 8

9. Core Case-management principles, Partridge (2004)
Acknowledge offender’s experiences and needs
Continuity of contact with case manager
Cohesion between elements of supervision
Face-to-face contact with small case management team
Openness, flexibility and support

10. Four over-lapping features of case-management, Holt (2000)
Consistency
Continuity
Consolidation
Commitment
The management of compliance (see Robinson and McNeill 2008; McNeill and Robinson 2009)

11. Implication ands opportunities for case-management processes
One size fits all processes and interventions will not work.
Developing motivation and maintaining hope are key tasks for case managers
Desistance is a relational enterprise - professional and personal
Build on personal strengths and resources and utilise strengths and resources in social networks

12. Implication ands opportunities for case-management processes
Focus on process of change, not on process of service delivery.
Pursue an individualised but not individualistic approach.
The process of change occurs in the interpersonal context of personal and professional relationships
Involve current / former service users in co-producing a desistance-supportive intervention process.

13. blogs.iriss.org.uk/discoveringdesistance/
Fergus McNeill, Shadd Maruna and Stephen Farrall
Discovering desistance
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