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Book Cover for: Counselling Partners and Relatives of Individuals who have Sexually Offended: A Strengths-Focused Eclectic Approach, Andrew Smith

Counselling Partners and Relatives of Individuals who have Sexually Offended: A Strengths-Focused Eclectic Approach

Andrew Smith

When someone is convicted of internet or contact sexual offences against children, there is usually a significant negative effect on the life of their partner and family. Many loved ones of sex offenders need therapeutic help to come to terms with what has happened, to make informed choices going forward and to better protect any children in their care.

Drawing on many years of working therapeutically in the field of sexual offending and following on from his first book, Counselling Male Sexual Offenders: A Strengths-Focused Approach (2017), in this book Dr Andrew Smith aims to assist counsellors and other practitioners to work with partners and relatives of sex offenders. By means of in-depth fictional case studies, ways of working in a strengths-focused, eclectic way with this client group are presented. Counsellors who choose to work in this emotionally fraught field often experience conflicted feelings, which are explored through fictionalized supervision sessions.

The case studies mostly involve the familiar talking method of counselling but because some partners and relatives of sexual offenders have ongoing responsibility for children, a structured programme of therapeutic safeguarding work is also provided, along with suggestions for drawing up safety plans. Often more than one generation of a family is impacted by sexual offending so, in the latter part of the book, therapeutic work with families is presented.


Book Details

  • Publisher: Cadoc Publishing
  • Publish Date: Jun 27th, 2022
  • Pages: 314
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 9.00in - 6.00in - 0.66in - 0.93lb
  • EAN: 9781838196530
  • Categories: Psychotherapy - CounselingPsychotherapy - Couples & FamilyForensic Psychology

About the Author

Smith, Andrew: - Dr Andrew Smith is a therapist, trainer and expert witness, working in private practice. He has worked in the field of sexual offending for many years, for the Lucy Faithfull Foundation (UK) and for StopSO (UK), an organisation which provides therapy for sexual offenders and their relatives.

Praise for this book

'This book brings together the theory and practice of working with partners affected by sexual offending, exploring the therapist's inner thoughts and the behaviour of the client. Being one of a few books of this kind, it will be invaluable to counsellors, and anyone else working in child protection.' John Goss - Chairperson of StopSO


'The impact on family members of individuals who commit sexual offences remains hidden. This book provides valuable insight into working therapeutically with the needs of this client group, whilst always keeping in focus safeguarding issues. Anyone working with non-offending partners or families cannot do better than to read this book.'

Deborah Denis - Chief Executive Officer of the Lucy Faithfull Foundation