The Pros And Cons Of Therapeutic Communication In Prison

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Prison to most people is one place they never want to end up and to others that is home for them. There are many TV shows and movies that depict what prison is and I went into this clinical with a preconceived idea of what it would be like. Come to find out it is nothing like TV and movies make it out to be, at least the TC unit isn’t. TC stands for Therapeutic Community and that is exactly what it is. This particular unit of the correctional facility is peer lead to help offenders interact together and utilize cognitive behavioral therapy to help them learn, grown and gain skills to function when they are released from prison. Although it is a peer lead group there are counselors to help facilitate care and also case managers. While…show more content…
In orientation, the peers are taught common distortions that can hinder the therapeutic communication link. They are also taught common thinking errors and common obstruction tactics that need to be over come to have a therapeutic communication with their fellow peers and others. When a peer is having an issue or just needs to talk there are many lines of communication they can utilize including, staff, para pros, the super coordinator, senior coordination, coordinators, senior expeditors, expeditors, big brother (an older peer in the community assigned to help a new peer in the program and is also the first person in the line of communication) or another peer. By having an array of different line of communication can help a peer find someone they are comfortable with that is willing to help and resolve the issue. These are all jobs that can be assigned to senior members of TC. I noticed that when peers come in to talk to their counselor it is usually a negative issue or problem they are having within the house. During the conversations the counselor uses therapeutic communication to fully understand what is going on. Using silence, asking for clarification and focusing in on the real issue at hand helped to not only opens the lines of communication but to keep them open. Another technique that is specific to TC is using “however” statements to turn a negative comment into a positive comment. The multiple times I saw it used, the peer left on a more positive note then when they came in. I used the technique of asking open ended questions with the peers when we were interacting to engage them and get to know them. I only did this if I felt that the peer was feeling comfortable. The more days spent at TC, the more the peers just came up to me and struck up a conversation. I feel that the name TC (therapeutic community) is very fitting and the
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