Abstract
This Doctoral portfolio chronicles my professional development in many respects. I completed my Masters Degree in the late 1970’s with a dissertation focusing on behavioural self-control techniques for the control of obesity. This research examined the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural techniques at a time when ‘learning theory’ and ‘behaviour modification’ were still regarded as the only therapeutic tools necessary in many clinical settings. My professional work began with a series of clinical psychologist posts in treatment settings for the intellectually disabled. My emphasis on working with individuals who presented challenging, socially inappropriate behaviours led to a gradual forensic emphasis and eventually to ‘partnership’ with the West Midlands Probation Services, Sex Offender Unit in the early establishment of a groupwork programme for intellectually disabled sex offenders. This work has led to my involvement in national and international training events focusing on the development of effective treatment techniques for working with intellectually disabled offenders who commit sexual offences. This work has culminated with the production of my review article, ‘Treatment of Intellectually Disabled Individuals who have Committed Sexual Offences: A Review of the Literature’, a slightly longer version of which has now been accepted for publication by the Journal of Sexual Aggression (Wilcox, accepted for publication). The second review article, ‘The Application of the Clinical Polygraph Examination to the Assessment, Treatment and Monitoring of Sex Offenders’ (Wilcox, 2000), was published in the Journal of Sexual Aggression. This paper and the research dossier, which is currently being prepared for publication, is the direct result of the supportive and forward thinking attitudes of the Probation Service management at that time. The West Midlands Probation Services Sex Offender Unit’s Community Sex Offender Groupwork Programme was developed and achieved Home Office Accreditation during this period when Wilcox Psychological Associates was providing the psychological assessment and consultancy services to the Sex Offender Unit. In keeping with the Unit’s general attitude toward improving effectiveness, I was at that time pursuing the use of physiological measures to improve the treatment, assessment and monitoring of offenders. This led to making contact with various professionals and ultimately to research and evaluation of the effectiveness of the polygraph in this regard via the research dossier. Since that time I have made a number of conference presentations and published numerous articles with colleagues in this area (Wilcox, Sosnowski and Middleton, 1999; Wilcox, Sosnowski and Middleton, 2000; and Wilcox, Sosnowski, Middleton and Grubin, 2002). In many respects, the case study most substantially reflects the kind of professional work I have undertaken since achieving Chartered status as a clinical and forensic psychologist. This paper details a common focus of my clinical evaluation and risk assessment work employing specialised and more general psychometric measures. The case study includes information about clinical interviews conducted and professional liaison efforts to address obvious public protection concerns that have arisen. The initial assessment report describes the work I have undertaken within the context of providing expert witness testimony in legal proceedings. The treatment component of this paper provides, through a case example, evidence of my work with the National Probation Service in developing and running Sex Offender Assessment and Treatment Programmes.