Purpose – The purpose of this paper was to examine the impact of a highly structured, formulation focused consultation process on knowledge and attitudes towards personality disorder and on perceived practice with personality disordered offenders. Consultation was delivered by the Yorkshire/Humber regional Pathway Development Service (PDS). This pilot study sought to inform the development of this service and the support offered to probation Trusts across Yorkshire/Humber to implement the national Personality Disorder Offender Pathway. Design/methodology/approach – Consultation was offered to a number of offender managers working in the Yorkshire/Humber region. The impact of the consultation on their knowledge and understanding of personality disorder in general was examined as was their attitudes to working with this population and their perceived confidence and competence in delivering supervision to each individual. Findings – The findings from this small pilot study would suggest that the structured format used by the Yorkshire PDS was helpful in enhancing the probation officers’ knowledge and understanding of personality disorder as well as their perceived confidence in and attitudes towards working with individuals with a personality disorder. Originality/value – The study indicates that the structured format used by the PDS is of value and may be applied to the support offered to probation Trusts across Yorkshire/Humber as they implement the community specification of the national Personality Disorder Offender Pathway.

The Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) pathway is a national initiative which co-commissions health and probation to work in partnership to enhance the criminal justice management of high risk offenders with personality disorder. Psychologically informed support is expected to augment the current provision for this client group alongside workforce training. The impact of training offender managers (OM) is uncertain and previous research has indicated training may be limited in its effectiveness. This paper examines the impact of a training and supervision model on the quality of formulations produced by offender managers and suggests that a model which teaches formulation through repeated consultation or the live supervision of practice leads to enhanced competencies in completing case formulations. The paper evaluates the quality of formulations produced by offender managers who have had their practice developed through repeated consultation with the OPD pathway (OPDOMs) in comparison with a generic group of offender managers. OPDOMs who have had the longest period of supervision with the project produced the highest quality formulations. The paper acknowledges a number of limitations but suggests that the model under scrutiny may usefully inform service delivery within the Offender Personality Disorder pathway.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight the findings of a service evaluation project assessing the impact of team consultation to criminal justice staff working with personality disordered offenders. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative design using content analysis of focus groups and individual semi-structured interviews. Findings – Criminal justice staff report increased awareness and understanding, use of a person-centred approach, development of formulation skills and defensible practice following team consultation. Practical implications – This paper will be of interest to practitioners who offer and/or receive consultation for work with offenders with personality disorder. Suggested changes to team consultation formats may be of interest to services involved with the Offender Personality Disorder Pathway. Originality/value – This paper contributes towards the emerging literature on the role of consultation and formulation on workforce development for individuals with personality disorder. It also contributes to the evaluation of the services offered by this specialist team as they support probation Trusts across Yorkshire/Humber to support the community specification of the national Offender Personality Disorder Pathway.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to outline the qualitative evaluation of a training package delivered to offender managers (OMs) working to support the implementation of the national Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) pathway and to examine qualitative changes in the way participants approach case material pre- and post-training. Design/methodology/approach In total, 21 pre- and 21 post-training responses to a case vignette were recorded and used in the analysis. OMs were asked what they would like to know more about and what would they focus on with the individual in the vignette. The responses were matched and the vignettes pre- and post-training were identical except for the name of the (fictional) offender. Findings The responses were subjected to a thematic analysis and, whilst themes were similar both between questions and within each question over time, post-training responses focussed more on the offender’s relationship with the OM and showed a greater appreciation for the relevance of internal motivations (not just what but why). This tendency was less evident in all responses regarding risk/offending. Originality/value The OPD pathway is focussed on learning. The work is innovative and this paper adds to the body of early evidence which will hopefully inform future developments. In particular, the importance of involvement of probation stakeholders in the design and delivery of training is highlighted. In addition, it is expected that future research will focus on the impact of continued supervision for the participants in this study and, as such, this paper forms the beginning of a process of evaluating how and when various workforce development interventions are effective.

Purpose This is a discussion paper describing the reflections of clinical leads within well-established intensive intervention and risk management services (IIRMS). IIRMS has developed in the past five years, with a small number of services leading in the development of a psychologically informed case management approach to working with individuals released from prison on probation licence, who have a history of high risk, high harm violent convictions linked to pervasive psychological and interpersonal problems. Design/methodology/approach Clinical leads of three services considered a period of 23 months up to December 2019, in which the outcomes for all individuals on their caseload at that time were reviewed. Reflections on the themes included the reasons for a premature return to prison and emerging themes for those who appeared to be successfully resettled. Findings Approximately one-third of the individuals were returned to prison, and for most, this occurred within the first 18 months of release. There was considerable unanimity between clinical leads regarding the themes, and problems with relative youth, substance misuse, relationship difficulties, managing transitions and complacency featured. There were four themes identified in those who appeared to have settled successfully in the community. Practical implications The identified themes provide key learning that will be enshrined in an updated version of the guidance for all IIRMS, with the overall aim of reaching out and engaging with a group of individuals who are most at risk of exclusion from services. Originality/value Although there are limitations associated with the informal approach of this paper, the reflections of the clinical leads have provided a valuable addition to the very limited empirical literature in this field.