Specialist Training

Monitoring, Managing and Making Sense of Sex Offenders in a prison setting

The aim of this course, available to prison staff, is to raise awareness of sexual offending activity within the prison setting which may present a risk to children or vulnerable adults through mail, telephone, photo and visits contact. Whilst particularly relevant to staff dealing with letters, PIN phones, visits, and SIRS.

The course helps staff to:

• Have a working knowledge of Safeguarding Children procedures
• Understand how conditioning and sexual grooming works
• Recognise how paedophiles network
• Identify, assess and address sexual grooming activity within mail, telephone calls, photos and visits
• Report and record any identified risks by following correct prison procedures

This course has been successfully delivered in prisons across the UK including those run by private contractors. To date, over 500 prison officers have attended the training.

Effective Support and Appropriate Opportunities to Divert Offenders with Learning Disabilities

This course has been developed in partnership with the Ann Craft Trust helps probation staff working with offenders with learning difficulties and disabilities in the context of current legislation and practice.

In particular, it helps them meet the guidelines laid out by "Breaking the Cycle" - that probation areas should:

• Develop a system of screening to find out which clients have learning disabilities
• Adapt procedures for people with learning disabilities
• adapt accredited programmes of treatement for people with learning disabilities
• co-work with learning disability practitioners for some clients
• develop contractual partnerships with specialist learning disability services to extend treatment options.

Sex Offender Awareness for faith-based organisations

Following our work on "Defensible Decisions", where We examined the experiences of the faith community in responding to sexual offences, we have developed a new course for those working in faith-based organisations - either in ministry, as staff, or volunteers - to help them reduce the risk of sexual offending.

This new course from TDI gives staff and volunteers from faith-based organisations awareness of how sex offenders operate, how they are managed under the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements, and the principles of risk assessment. The course also gives participants some understanding of how to identify and report patterns of potentially risky behaviour.

This course is ideal for all those in faith-based organisations with a duty of care. It is designed for organisations wishing to improve their safeguarding structures and practices in line with best practice guidance.

Assessing and Managing Offenders into appropriate employment and education opportunities

This course has been developed to help staff from Learning and Skills Councils gauge risk in relation to placing sex offenders in appropriate employment. The training provides participants with an improved understanding of the criminal justice sector and the way in which prison and probation services interlink through offender management.

The course is based on the understanding that participants have a working knowledge of Offender Management and are regularly working with offenders.

A key focus of the training is risk - identifying behaviours associated with risk, identifying who is at risk, and procedures to deal with that risk.

The course also explores how community based sentences and licenses operate and it helps particpants improve their knowledge of how to safely assist offenders into suitable employment or training opportunities.

The TDI training was very well received by staff and did what it set out to do. It was felt to give a very good insight into the issues surrounding the management of sex offenders, what to look for in their behaviours and how to report it. An excellent course...we would highly recommend it to other establishments.

John Smith, Leisurewatch

If you would like further information on any of the courses mentioned, please contact Hugh Stolliday