"Most of us take our context for granted yet would acknowledge the influence that places and people have upon us. However, within forensic settings our attention has tended to focus on locating problems and change in the individual, devoid of context and the world in which people live. As the authors who contribute to this book clearly argue attention to the context of the person (past and present; social, cultural, organisational and physical) is long overdue. This book provides a firm foundation for addressing this neglect and provides a challenge to systematically consider the context / environment and how we use research to better understand this. This book balances theory and practice from a wide range of viewpoints and settings, with several chapters including case studies and work that is underway or recently completed. The welcome attention to the social component of the bio-psycho-social framework includes a plethora of ideas such as interpersonal dynamics, context, systemic and organisational factors, climate, environment, milieu and formal frameworks such as TC, PIE, PIPE and EE. Written by experienced practitioners, researchers and academics this is a text that practitioners, commissioners and those involved in forensic services should pay attention to."
Jason Davies, Professor of Forensic and Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychology, Swansea University, UK
