Me-thinking: report on a pilot intervention with women in custody

Abstract

Purpose This pilot study aims to assess the feasibility of conducting shared philosophical inquiry with women at risk of re-offending to improve motivation to change. The philosophy sessions aimed to give participants new ways to think about their lives and to help them have more control over their own mind by learning new ways to think differently. Design/methodology/approach The pilot study adopted a mixed-methods approach to collect and analyse data pre- and post-intervention. Ten women serving a custodial sentence at the Democratic Therapeutic Community (DTC) in HMP Send were recruited to take part in ten weekly sessions of philosophical discussion. The intervention was adjunctive and not meant to replace other treatments an inmate may already be receiving. Findings The results showed that most participants experienced improved levels of well-being and mental health post-intervention, and that the intervention has the potential to help participants better critically assess their own behaviour and ways of thinking. It also suggested that the intervention has the potential to help participants engage more effectively with the therapeutic process. Research limitations/implications The results of this study are limited by the small sample size and the lack of a control group. As such this study cannot rule out that the changes observed in participants were a function of time or the specific therapeutic environment they were in (or both). Originality/value This pilot study is innovative not just for introducing philosophy classes to the women’s prison estate for the first time in England and Wales, but also in its ambition to contribute to the “what works” agenda in offender rehabilitation.