9th February 2016
Today sees the publication of a
review conducted by Forensic Psychological Services at Middlesex University for
the Ministry of Justice. The report provides an evidence based review of what
is effective in the management of young people who have offended and what isn’t
effective. The team conducting the review were led by Professor Joanna R Adler
of the Department of Psychology and includes: Sarah K Edwards, Mia Scally,
Michael J Puniskis, Anna Gekoski and Miranda A H Horvath alongside an intern,
Dorothy Gill, from Boston University.
The review considers processes important in the management
of young people and it assesses robust evidence regarding the impacts and
outcomes of interventions run in youth justice systems in the UK and around the
world. Some common themes that emerged included the importance of assessing not
just the risk of reoffending but also the young person’s abilities to engage
with interventions. Young people need to understand what they have to do to
complete a sentence successfully and what the expectations are of them.
Professionals who work in the youth offender system have a difficult but vital
set of roles which have to balance both care and offence rehabilitation. All
this needs to be done with young people who may have experienced repeat
neglect, abuse or other potentially traumatic life events, who have often
failed or been excluded from school.
Joanna said. “A young person’s journey
through the justice system can be rehabilitative and result in successful
reintegration to society but too often, youth justice interventions have not
worked. We need to look at the youth in front of us as well as the crime
committed. The context of their lives, and the choices they have faced need to
be acknowledged and incorporated into effective sentence planning,
rehabilitation, and planning for their lives after sentence.”
The FPS review can be found at the following link:
A collaboration between Middlesex University and University of the West of England recently covered by the BBC is hoping to find new ways to help urban gulls live in harmony with humans. 
Frauke Elichaoff, Andrea Oskis and Fiona Starr
have been invited to JCoSS, a Barnet Secondary School, to talk about their
careers in psychology. JCoSS enjoy a close relationship with Middlesex
University; year 11 students had a
careers event at Mdx at the start of the year and JCoSS students were part of the Holocaust
Memorial Day held in the Quad last month.
Ruxandra Angel and Fiona Starr have been
successful in their application for an Erasmus+ Staff Mobility Grant. They are
delighted to be sharing their team
teaching in counselling, therapy and mindfulness theory and practice to
colleagues at the University of Lisbon later this year. Lisbon is researching
into resilience mechanisms and relationships and we look forward to sharing
their expertise. The start of a valuable relationship.
The Psychology Action
group in Psychology ran four workshops on Wellbeing themes on Thursday 4th
February, to follow from the opening of the Wellbeing Centre at Sunny Hill
House the previous day https://unihelp.mdx.ac.uk/counsellingandmentalhealth
