To accomplish this goal, prisoners and probationers are assigned to classes where they get information about the effects of substance use. One type of group is the cognitive intervention session, which tries to teach individuals how to think about their behavior patterns when handling problem situations. In group sessions, the premise of the education and treatment we are given is that the individual is solely responsible for failing to make good or positive choices, and his or her problems result from this failure to make good choices. First of all, I think that generally speaking most of the information I got from the DRC staff is solid and accurate.
Life is a matter of choices.
Having said this, I am also critical of the failure of DRC staff to acknowledge that even though each individual makes choices, on the other side of the coin, society in turn is responsible for public policies that meet the needs of its members. I think that this society often does not meet the needs of the individual, so when the DRC staff puts almost all of their emphasis on individual choice alone, they are giving a definition of the problem that is much too narrow. It is also necessary for the DRC staff to make a connection between the individual and society. When they don't do this, they alienate people in the groups, because people are aware of this connection although they aren't able to articulate it. One of the topics that comes up in groups is denial, and one form of denial is blaming others for your own behavior.