Good Lives Model
In conjunction with the full assessment and I.C.O.N. document, Apple Orchard uses the Good Lives Model (GLM) in order to help structure the young person’s therapeutic aims. For further information on GLM please visit www.goodlivesmodel.com from which the following was taken.
Helping Young People to Achieve…
At Apple Orchard we base our approach on the Good Lives Model. The good lives model is an approach which steers away from simply looking at an offending behaviour and how to containing it, but rather plays on the resilience of young people in building better lives.
- “We have been so busy thinking about how to reduce sexual crimes that we have overlooked a rather basic truth: recidivism may be further reduced through helping offenders to live better lives, not simply targeting isolated risk factors.” (Ward et al 2006:391)
The model gives adolescents the language to use to focus on their ability and role to change things in their lives for the better, for example, ‘my needs’ and ‘my unmet needs.’ Eleven classes of primary goods have been defined, these being:
- Life (including healthy living and functioning)
- Knowledge (how well informed one feels about things that are important to them)
- Excellence in play (hobbies and recreational pursuits)
- Excellence in work (including mastery experiences)
- Excellence in agency (autonomy and self-directedness)
- Inner peace (freedom from emotional turmoil and stress)
- Relatedness (including intimate, romantic, and familial relationships)
- Community (connection to wider social groups)
- Spirituality (in the broad sense of finding meaning and purpose in life)
- Pleasure (the state of happiness or feeling good in the here and now)
- Creativity (expressing oneself through alternative forms)
In order to meet these, eight needs are identified and listed below:
- Having Fun -Incorporates play, thrill, amusement, enjoyment, entertainment and excitement.
- Achieving – Incorporates knowledge, learning, talents, fulfilment, competence and status.
- Being my own person – Incorporates Independence, self-motivation, making decisions, self-reliance, expressing self-identity, empowerment, life skills, internal locus of control and self-actualisation.
- Having people in my life – Can include family, peers, community, romantic and intimate relationships. Other emotional confidante.
- Having a Purpose and Making a Difference – Ascribing to positive social values and codes of behaviour, conforming to societal norms, spirituality, making a positive contribution.
- Emotional Health – Emotional safety, emotional regulation, mental health, well-being
- Sexual Health – Sexual knowledge, sexuality, sexual development, sexual confidence, sexual pleasure and fulfilment.
- Physical Health – Sleep, diet, exercise, hygiene, physical safety, physical functioning.
We strive to help young people to achieve these needs in ways which promote healthy futures.
Recent empirical research which tested the original aetiological assumptions of the GLM provided comprehensive support for the model’s aetiological underpinnings (see Purvis, 2006; 2010). In testing these assumptions, this research also found that there are actually two primary routes that lead to the onset of offending: direct and indirect. The direct pathway is implicated when an offender actively attempts (often implicitly) to satisfy primary goods through his or her offending behaviour. For example, an individual lacking the competencies to satisfy the good of intimacy with an adult might instead attempt to meet this good through sexual offending against a child. The indirect pathway is implicated when, through the pursuit of one or more goods, something goes awry which creates a ripple or cascading effect leading to the commission of a criminal offence. For example, conflict between the goods of intimacy and autonomy might lead to the break-up of a relationship, and subsequent feelings of loneliness and distress. Maladaptive coping strategies such as the use of alcohol to alleviate distress might, in specific circumstances, lead to a loss of control and culminate in sexual offending (Ward, Mann et al., 2007).
The home is child focussed and focussing on the positives, targets are individual. The staff provide a clear understanding of the service and build young people’s confidence.
Independent Reviewing Officer