Training Description
The Association for the Treatment and Prevention of Sexual Abuse (ATSA), formerly known as the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers, is an international organization committed to playing a vital role in the prevention of sexual abuse by promoting sound research, informed policy and effective practice with individuals who have perpetrated or are at risk of perpetrating sexual abuse. This training reviews the evidence-based framework for effective interventions with criminal justice involved populations, the components of a comprehensive assessment including completing risk assessment, and the written report. The ATSA Master Class also explores the components of treatment interventions including identifying static and dynamic risk factors, goal setting and treatment completion. Finally, the training reviews risk reduction and risk management in the community with a focus on identify collaborative partners in the community, engaging community supports, and safety planning.
Trainer Biographies
Maia Christopher, JD is the Executive Director of ATSA. Focusing on preventing sexual abuse through understanding and interrupting the behaviors of people at risk of offending, ATSA specializes in disseminating research, defining and supporting effective treatment practices and promoting evidence base policies. Ms. Christopher started her work providing treatment services and developing treatment protocols for individuals who have offended sexually and non-sexually. She spent 19 years providing treatment services to incarcerated individuals that committed violent offenses in Correctional Services of Canada and Washington State Department of Corrections. Ms. Christopher has presented extensively in the areas of practice guidelines of sex offender treatment, collaborating with community stakeholders invested in successful offender reintegration and policy pertaining to sexual offending. She is a member of the Violence Prevention Alliance, a network of World Health Organization Member States, international agencies and civil society organizations working to prevent violence, and of the NOTA Prevention Committee.
Robert J. McGrath, MA is President of McGrath Psychological Services, an international consulting practice. For over 30 years, Mr. McGrath has specialized in preventing sexual abuse through his work assessing, treating, and conducting research on individuals who have committed sexual offenses. He served as Clinical Director of the Vermont Department of Corrections network of prison and community sex offender treatment programs from 1996 to 2015. Among his over 50 publications, he is co-author of Supervision of the Sex Offender as well as Current Practices and Trends in Sexual Abuser Management. He is co-developer of several risk assessment instruments, including the Sex Offender Treatment Intervention and Progress Scale (SOTIPS) and the Risk of Sexual Abuse of Children (ROSAC). He has served on numerous sex offender treatment advisory boards and accreditation panels including those for the national programs in Canada, England, and Hong Kong. He is a former president of the Safer Society Foundation Board of Directors and was co-chair of the ATSA professional standards committee that wrote the organization’s 2014 Practice Guidelines for the Assessment, Treatment, and Management of Male Adult Sexual Abusers. In 2015, he received the ATSA Significant Lifetime Achievement Award.
Learning Objectives
This training is designed to help you:
- Describe overarching principles of intervention with individuals who sexually abuse
- Describe elements of comprehensive assessment
- Describe the development of individualized treatment plans
- Describe the development of community management plans
- Identify ways to incorporate the ATSA Practice Guidelines into clinical practice