Dr. Pithers and his associates are pioneers in the field. They have generously given permission for the Correctional Service of Canada to draw upon their work and adapt it to fit the Canadian situation. The Correctional Service of Canada's sex offender training program is primarily designed to increase the awareness of staff who evaluate, manage and treat sex offenders and to provide them with more tools for dealing with the special needs of these offenders while ensuring continuity between the penitentiary and the community. The program is divided into two separate units. During this part of the training program, an overview of sex offending is given.
Correctional workers are prepared and sensitized to working with sexually abusive individuals.
Issues such as the assessment of denial and minimization, sexual preference and social competence and the identification of the offence cycle are also covered in Unit I. Unit II- Sex Offender Risk Assessment and Relapse Prevention Training offered in the second unit focuses more on teaching skills useful mainly to employees who are directly responsible for dealing with and managing sex offenders. Participants have the opportunity to learn and perfect their skills in interview techniques, in evaluating risk factors and needs, in identifying causes of relapse and in developing supervision strategies to reduce recidivism. The units are subdivided into modules to allow flexible delivery of the program while ensuring that the needs of the different correctional occupational groups are met. The training package was successfully piloted in the Ontario region during January 1991. The overall results were extremely encouraging, with many correctional officers, case managers and psychologists impressed with the way this approach assists them in their dealings with sex offenders.