SCRAM Systems is spending the week at the National Association of Drug Court Professionals 25th Annual Training Conference, where many of the country’s leaders in addiction and therapeutic criminal justice are sharing their expertise. In this special series we’ll be sharing some of the highlights of what we’re learning this week.
Yesterday, the Honorable Christine Carpenter, from the 13th Judicial Circuit in Columbia, Missouri, and Meghan Wheeler, a senior consultant with the National Drug Court Institute, gave a comprehensive presentation on the best practices for reinforcing client successes via appropriate sanctions and rewards.
With a focus on how to build in appropriate sanctions when clients violate court orders, their tips included:
Identify specific goals for each phase of your program. Include both short- and long-term outcomes, with the short-term goals focused on the long-term objectives.
Make sanctions predictable and controllable. They suggested a written manual for participants AND court staff, clearly outlining expectations and sanctions when they violate the conditions of their program. It mitigates a client’s feeling that the court is “out to get them,” and in general, people do better when expectations are clearly defined. This document also provides court staff with a roadmap for applying clear and consistent sanctions, taking the guesswork away when issues arise.
Balance sanctions with incentives. Research has shown that with addicted clients, punishment alone doesn’t change behavior—the changes in client behavior end when the punishment ends. Instead, Carpenter and Wheeler emphasized the importance of “catching clients doing the right things,” including rewards to reinforce positive behavior. Clients who are recognized when they do well are more likely to repeat positive behaviors.
Assessment. Addiction is a spectrum disease, and different sanctions and rewards work with different levels of addictions. Assessing and understanding where each client falls on the spectrum provides a clearer path for addressing their needs.
For more information on appropriate sanctions and incentives, visit the National Drug Court Resource Center.
It seems addicts would possibly read a manual, but they are stubborn and don’t want to change their behavior. They convince themselves that they’re behavior is perfectly explainable, and all of us can be fooled by our reasoning too. So what about preparing rebuttals for common pitfalls, of flawed reasoning that leads them to relapse. “I have to it” will be the title of a section, followed with a rebuttal. Each rebuttal should end with a phone # to call of a trusted helper if they find themselves fighting with these thoughts.