The offender personality disorder (OPD) pathway was implemented in 2012 to help improve services for people with personality difficulties within the criminal justice system. The OPD pathway acknowledges the importance of supervision, training and reflective practice for staff working with this client group and such activities have therefore been embedded within this initiative. Despite the research from this pathway identifying benefits to both staff and service users, there is a gap in knowledge about the impact of reflective practice. This study aims, therefore, to increase this knowledge base by exploring staff’s experience and perception of reflective practice as part of the OPD pathway programme. Focus groups and semi-structured interviews were completed with 32 members of National Health Service and National Probation Service staff within offender management teams and approved premises in the North East of England. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data, resulting in the emergence of four key themes relating to the utility of reflective practice sessions. The findings suggest that reflective practice is useful, however, there are some barriers to attending sessions. The findings have implications for service delivery and workforce development within the OPD pathway programme and more widely within NPS.

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.

As part of the national Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) pathway, Intensive Intervention Risk Management Services are commissioned to offer the opportunity for some eligible offenders to access individualised intervention to support their treatment needs, upon their transition from custody to the community (Skett and Lewis, 2019). However, it has previously been acknowledged that psychological services often fail to reach offenders due to a range of potential psycho-social reasons (Byng et al., 2012; NOMS, 2014; Skett et al., 2017). The current study aims to explore National Probation Service (NPS) and National Health Service (NHS) staff perceptions of the Intensive Intervention Risk Management Service (IIRMS), within the Cumbria, North and South Tyneside regions, including their perception of potential barriers to service delivery. Further, areas of improvement that may overcome potential barriers to engagement are discussed and comparisons are made to barriers identified to engagement within other NHS/NPS partnerships pathways; specifically the Mental Health Treatment Requirement (MHTR) (NOMS, 2014). Results indicate that the IIRMS is useful. However, a number of staff barriers, service user barriers and barriers within the method and delivery of the service were indicated. Results of the study offer the opportunity for shared learning across the pathway and with other services engaging with the most marginalised offenders within our society.