Correctional counseling
Correctional counseling refers to a form of professional help offered to convicted criminals to help reduce the level of recidivism. This video presents the case of a woman who got arrested for drunk driving. The woman was asked by the judge to visit the counselor in a bid to prevent future offenses of the same nature. The woman named Tanasha tells the counselor that she does not have a drinking problem; instead, she points out that she only went to happy hour and had a couple of drinks. In the beginning, she seems uncooperative, but the counselor wins her over slowly through the question she asks to get to the root of the problem. The woman points out that she can do her day to day duties without any interference from her drinking habits, thus using this to justify her claim that she does not have a problem.
However, the counselor helps break down the issues that could be stressing her, leading to her drinking habits. The counselor points out issues such as work and home stress that the offender agrees with, showing the use of counseling to get to the root cause of Tanasha’s offense. The counselor also finds a way to encourage her to engage in healthier pass time activities that take her away from drinking. The suggestion of a positive pass time gives her an alternative pass time because she seems to be lonely with her husband working late and children having extracurricular activities. The counselor creatively gets Tanasha to commit to a change in behavior by starting with a few positive steps, such as avoiding the bar after work.
Correctional counseling is offered to offenders as a preventive method to ensure an offense is not repeated by finding its cause and helping individuals have a different outlook in life*. This also helps in better decision making as counseling helps identify the triggers that result in them committing the crime, thus reducing chances of repeated offenses. Correctional counselors work with criminal offenders both at the prison level and out of prison, where they play a significant role in identify the causes of illegal activities and suggest ways to eliminate the challenges leading to criminal activities. In this video, the offender is reluctant to admit that he has a drinking problem, although she drinks daily. Community correctional counselors have diverse roles that are also flexible to help accommodate the wide range of individuals they assist daily. In this case, the offender only required to be nudged away from drinking, which the counselor effected efficiently by ensuring the happy hour was replaced with positive and persona growth hobbies.
Correctional counseling is considered successful in cases where the offender is enabled to improve their relationship with others in the community and also to make personal improvements*. This is due to the improvement of relations with others significantly reduces the chances of repeat offenses. In this video, the counselor requests Tanasha to bring her husband into the counseling session after some time. This shows that the counselor aims to improve the relationship Tanasha has with her husband, children, as well as other members of society. However, she agrees to start slowly by letting Tanasha fill in the happy hour with other self-developmental activities. This shows that the counseling session was successful as Tanasha leaves on a positive thought and is willing to return for further assistance despite her hostility at the beginning.