DN Opinion. Reinstatement of the therapy for inmates and staff.

When I read Andreas Johansson's letter to the editor on the DN View, I am really impressed by the insights you share. I want to tell the work that went on during my time within the prison and probation service in Kalmar, sweden from the 1990s to the 2010s. We offered to inmates but also the staff the therapy you require.

We organized the reflective conversations. It means that I, as a psychotherapist, invited inmates to the therapeutic conversation along with the selected carers. I have been led to work. Trainers and guided the staff in how to talk reflective.

to ask what the inmates want to talk about. Then I put the relevant questions in the given subject. After a while, I asked the listening the carer – who at this point knew that he would just listen until he gets asked to talk – about his or her reflections of what he/she has heard told.

In the meantime, we have a reflective conversation in front of the inmates, he is asked to listen and observe. The last word is his, then he can comment and reply on our conversation.

the Model I downloaded from the systems theory. My mentors were two professors from the university of Tromsø in Norway, followed up on the work. The results were very good. The work is documented, monitored and published, it aroused international interest, in particular in the nordic neighbouring countries and in the united states. It is posted on the internet under juditwagner.wordpress.com.

and converse with the inmate, where the staff is also involved is still ongoing within the Danish and the Norwegian correctional services. Sweden has, however, opted for other ”påverkansprogram”, which are often manualiserade.

I hope that Andreas Johansson's post raises Kalmararbetet to life again, even within the Swedish correctional system.