Applying the Good Lives and Self-Regulation Models to Sex Offender Treatment
A Practical Guide for Clinicians
by Pamela M. Yates, Ph.D., R.D.Psych., David Prescott, L.I.C.S.W. & Tony Ward, Ph.D., DipClinPsyc.

Traditional approaches to sex offender treatment, such as the Relapse Prevention model, have focused primarily on risk management and avoidance. While these methods have shown some effectiveness, they have significant limitations. An integrated framework combining the Good Lives Model (GLM) and Self-Regulation Model-Revised (SRM-R) aims to address these shortcomings and provide a more comprehensive approach to treatment that incorporates elements that will more fully engage adults who commit sexual offenses in the treatment process.

Treatment using this integrated model involves identifying the primary goods most valued by the client, understanding how their offending was an attempt to obtain those goods, and developing more adaptive ways for them to achieve those goods. It focuses on building their capabilities and strengths, not just managing risk factors.

The key differences between the traditional Relapse Prevention approach and the integrated GLM/SRM-R model presented in this workbook include:

• Focus: Relapse Prevention focuses on managing risk and avoiding relapse, while GLM/SRM-R addresses both risk reduction and promotion of wellbeing.
• Pathways: Relapse Prevention assumes a single pathway to offending, while SRM-R identifies four distinct pathways requiring different treatment approaches.
• Orientation: Relapse Prevention is avoidance-oriented, while GLM/SRM-R takes a strength-based, positive approach focused on helping clients achieve important life goals in prosocial ways.
• Therapeutic alliance: Traditional approaches often fail to create a strong therapeutic alliance, while GLM/SRM-R emphasizes building a collaborative relationship between client and clinician.
• Motivation: GLM/SRM-R aims to enhance motivation by framing treatment as a way to live a more fulfilling life, not just to avoid reoffending.

The GLM/SRM-R model provides an overarching positive framework for rehabilitation, which can incorporate cognitive-behavioral and other evidence-based interventions. The authors summarize the key focus of the GLM/SRM-R model:

“…in addition to changing risk factors and building clients’ abilities to manage risk, a major focus of treatment is to assist clients to develop the skills, values, attitudes, and resources necessary to lead a different kind of life—one that is personally meaningful and satisfying, and one that does not involve inflicting harm on others.”

Treatment using this approach involves:

• Identifying the primary goods most valued by the individual offender
• Understanding how their offending was an attempt to obtain those goods
• Developing more adaptive ways for them to achieve those goods

This is a thorough, step-by-step guide that first lays the groundwork with the fundamentals. It is designed to help clinicians apply the integrated GLM/SRM-R approach in practice. The guide covers topics such as motivation and client engagement, the rationale for using GLM as a framework, the 10 primary goods in the model, case formulation and treatment planning, and the importance of approach goals and linking criminogenic needs to primary goods.  The guide is thoroughly researched and contains 14 pages of references to research articles cited within.

By providing a more holistic, individualized, and motivational approach, the GLM/SRM-R model offers new possibilities for effective sex offender treatment and rehabilitation.

Click here to view the Table of Contents and Introduction Chapter, an interview with developer Tony Ward, and more!

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