How can environments play a role in assisting and sustaining personal change in individuals incarcerated within the criminal justice system? Can a failure to address contextual issues reduce or undermine the effectiveness of clinical intervention? Bringing together a range of leading forensic psychologists, this book explores and illustrates inter-relationships between interventions and the environment in which they take place.

This book examines how the environment can be better utilised to contribute to processes of change and how therapeutic principles and practices can be more strongly embedded through being applied in supportive, facilitative environments. In addition, it expands on emerging conceptualisations of how psychological functioning and environmental context are inextricably linked and offers an alternative to prevailing intrapsychic or ‘essentialist’ views of areas such as personality and cognition.

Providing new and challenging insights and perspectives on issues of central relevance to forensic psychology and related disciplines, this book contributes to the development of innovative and unifying directions for research, practice and theory. This book will be an essential resource for those who work with or intend to work with offenders, particularly practitioners, researchers and students in the fields of psychology, criminology, psychiatry, psychotherapy and social work.

"Most of us take our context for granted yet would acknowledge the influence that places and people have upon us. However, within forensic settings our attention has tended to focus on locating problems and change in the individual, devoid of context and the world in which people live. As the authors who contribute to this book clearly argue – attention to the context of the person (past and present; social, cultural, organisational and physical) is long overdue. This book provides a firm foundation for addressing this neglect and provides a challenge to systematically consider the context / environment and how we use research to better understand this. This book balances theory and practice from a wide range of viewpoints and settings, with several chapters including case studies and work that is underway or recently completed. The welcome attention to the social component of the bio-psycho-social framework includes a plethora of ideas such as interpersonal dynamics, context, systemic and organisational factors, climate, environment, milieu and formal frameworks such as TC, PIE, PIPE and EE. Written by experienced practitioners, researchers and academics this is a text that practitioners, commissioners and those involved in forensic services should pay attention to."

Jason Davies, Professor of Forensic and Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychology, Swansea University, UK

Geraldine Akerman is a chartered and HCPC registered Forensic Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society and Europsych. She currently works as a Therapy Manager at HMP Grendon and is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Birmingham and Cardiff Metropolitan University.

Adrian Needs is a Forensic Psychologist by background, qualified as a practitioner with experience including 14 years in HM Prison Service. He runs the MSc Forensic Psychology course at the University of Portsmouth and through the BPS played a prominent role in steering the formulation of national standards for postgraduate training in this field. His current research interests include transition and offending in former members of the armed forces.

Claire Bainbridge is a chartered and HCPC registered Forensic Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. She has over twenty years’ experience of working with offenders in a variety of settings, including prison, health, police and probation services and is currently a Consultant Forensic Psychologist within the Offender Health and Forensic Community Service at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust.