Introduction
It will be a unique international opportunity to meet professionals from other countries, from different disciplines and from a range of backgrounds, to share and to learn from people doing the same work in different European realities and from the different areas of the criminal justice field (prison, probation and restorative justice)..The focus will be upon practice: what works – new ideas – restorative methods – trauma informed practices – research – workshops – practice visits – sharing experience. The aim is that participants bring their expertise and, through engaging with the trainers, become better equipped and informed about current approaches and effective interventions.
In this course, each organisation member of CJPE will address this topic from a different but complementary angle:
- The European Organisation of Prison and Correctional Services (EuroPris) will focus on mental health challenges in closed correctional settings and on how to create a safer environment
- The Confederation of European Probation (CEP) will explore mental health issues in probation, both from the service users’ and staff perspective
- The European Forum for Restorative Justice (EFRJ) will offer a course on trauma informed practice in criminal justice, with a focus on restorative justice
The ‘Summer Course’ consists of plenary sessions, three parallel workshops, three seminars and study visits. The aim is to examine key practice issues, inspire new thinking, promote cross-fertilisation and build new networks to improve services and practice in prisons, probation and restorative justice. The variety of the group, coming from different European realities, will provide further opportunities to learn and engage in criminal justice issues.
Registration
Early Bird tickets: 395€ until 15th April – after 15th April: 450€
Please note that, should you cancel your participation before 15th of April, 10% of the fee still needs to be paid. From 15th April until 1st June this is 50%, and after that date you will be charged the full attendance fee because of commitments to the conference facilities.
Plenaries
- Mental disorders and crime – how can we improve the assessment and treatment to prevent reoffending? by Seena Fazel
Seena Fazel is professor of forensic psychiatry at the University of Oxford, where he leads a research group investigating the links between mental illness and crime, prison mental health and suicide risk, and violence risk assessment.
- The Council of Europe White paper on the management of offenders with mental health disabilities and disorders by Annie Devos
Annie DEVOS is the Director-General of the Houses of Justice in Wallonia-Brussels Federation (Belgium). She also acts as CEP President and Vice-President of the Council for penological cooperation (PC-CP) at the Council of Europe.
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- Mental health and substance use in prisons – Johan Lothe
Johan started to work with PriSUD (Prison substance use disorder) to improve mental and physical health, as well as quality of life for people with substance abuse problems in prison.
Workshops
- Increased prison safety and positive outcomes – Professional approaches to mental health in closed settings – Trainers: Karen Slade and Sebastian Schmidt
Professor Karen Slade is a registered forensic psychologist and HM Prison and Probation Service’s strategic lead for deaths under probation supervision. Sebastian Schmidt is a forensic psychologist working for the Ministry of Justice in Mecklenburg Western Pomerania. For almost a decade he worked in forensic ambulances in different federal states in Germany. He has experience working in group settings in psychiatric penal institutions.
- Developing a trauma-informed approach to prison and probation services to improve mental health – Trainers: Claudia Christen-Schneider and Rachael Moss
Claudia Christen-Schneider is a criminologist and a restorative justice practitioner. As founder and current president of the Swiss RJ Forum, she is actively involved in promoting, developing and implementing restorative justice in Switzerland.
- The Challenge of Being Human – Mental health at work – Trainers: Laura Bowden, Charlie Brooker and Jo Clarke
Laura Bowden is a Forensic Psychologist who has extensive experience working across a range of settings including The Prison Service, and high, medium and low secure hospitals. During 23 years of working as a (now former) forensic psychologist in the criminal justice system, Jo Clarke’s attention focused on the concept of resilience, both for individuals and the organisations in which they live and, or, work.
Organisers
The Criminal Justice Platform Europe (CJPE) is a partnership of three network organisations working in the field of probation, prison and restorative justice. They organise this Summer Course in collaboration with the Centre for Legal Studies of the Ministry of Justice in Catalonia.
