One way of thinking about procrastination is to regard it as a form of addiction; an addiction to putting things off. As with other addictive patterns, the client will choose a short-term gratification instead of going for a long-term result that might, in the end, be more satisfying or empowering. As with other addictions, a procrastinating client often suffers ongoing erosion of her self-esteem. Quite often, procrastination may function as a defense as a way to avoid other life issues that are disturbing. With this type of problem, we can use a variation of Popky’s addiction protocol, and the level of urge to avoid (LoUA) procedure. It is also important to use resource installation procedures to help the client develop an image of the benefits that would come with being free of this problem.

Feeling the pain of rejection by someone we love is one of the most difficult experiences that we can have as human beings. Often, this terrible feeling is, in part, based on an unrealistic idealization of the lost lover. Eye movement desensitization reprocessing (EMDR) Standard Protocol assists our client in focusing on those aspects of the remembered love relationship that retain the intense positive affect, so that a disinvestment process can occur, and the client can come to see the former relationship more realistically, with all its good and bad aspects. The level of positive affect or (LoPA) score is a scale of 0 to 10 that is used instead of the subjective units of disturbance (SUD) scale for this protocol. When setting up this protocol, the positive representative image, the LoPA for the positively felt emotion, and the location of that number in positive body sensations, are elicited.

This chapter describes the life course pathways of cumulative health and justice disparities experienced by historical and emerging diverse groups, which is often found among forensic populations. It helps readers articulate a life course systems power analysis strategy for use with forensic populations and in forensic settings. The chapter demonstrates how a data-driven and evidence-based assessment and intervention plan can be used to address clinical and legal issues using case examples of an aging prison population. It uses older people in prison to illustrate the complex life course of health and social structural barriers and needs of incarcerated people who have histories of victimization and criminal convictions. Information about trauma and justice, especially related to the trauma of incarceration, which in itself is often a form of abuse, especially when frail elders are involved and they are at increased risk for victimization, medical neglect, and “resource” exploitation is presented.

This chapter illustrates how factors outside of families affect lives of people within families. It examines the potential impact that two major issues—work-family conflict and mass incarceration—can have on the lives of family members. The chapter describes ways in which laws governing systems external to families, particularly work and criminal justice, can disrupt families in ways that may lead them to use social workers. It aims at providing necessary understanding of how social workers can help support such families, keeping in mind that family needs often develop from the social and economic context in which each family is situated. The chapter discusses the relevant ethical, legal, and policy issues facing work-family conflict and mass incarceration. It encourages social workers to look beyond the individual—to the systems in which individuals are situated, to better understand the behaviors, decisions, and mental health of individual clients.

This chapter provides an orientation to the critical issues, history, trends, policies, programs, and intervention strategies of the juvenile justice system. It reviews the types, functions, and legal responsibilities of the various juvenile justice agencies and institutions. The chapter describes the case flow within the juvenile justice system. It also discusses systems of care in juvenile justice, and specialized assessment and treatment issues with adolescents, including sexually abusive youth. It explores the foundation and groundwork for the study of juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice system while delineating the legal definitions of juvenile status offenses and juvenile delinquency, examining the nine steps in the juvenile justice case-flow process. The chapter also gives attention to systems of care, the link between trauma and delinquency, as well as the assessment and treatment considerations for forensic social workers when addressing the specialized needs of juveniles in the justice system.

This chapter describes a forensic practice framework using a human rights and social justice systems approach. It articulates the definition and theme-based strategies that distinguish forensic social work from social work practice as usual. The chapter then proposes an integrated theoretical perspective that the authors refer to as a human rights and social justice systems (HR-SJS) approach. This approach helps to visualize forensic social work practice in any practice setting. The chapter also reviews the history of forensic social work using the United States as the case example to illustrate how a two-pronged approached to practice was integrated throughout this specialized arena of practice. A review of forensic social work history shows that well over 100 years ago, social workers understood that government, as author and institutor of policy, can and should be an arena for reform.

When working with ambivalence, it is helpful to identify the two or more sides of the ambivalence, such as the client who wants to work on a disturbing memory but is too afraid. Sometimes, if the client impulsively uses avoidance and is frustrated with her ambivalence, the most accessible point of entry into effectively using eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) to process a problem may be to target the feeling of relief associated with avoiding that problem. The procedures for unwanted avoidance defenses script notes were partially derived from Popky’s Desensitization of Triggers and Urge Reprocessing (DeTUR) Protocol for using EMDR to treat addictive behaviors. Usually, when this procedure is used, the level of urge to avoid (LoUA) scores will go down with continuing sets of bilateral stimulation (BLS), until the client spontaneously begins direct targeting of the memory or issue.

The Constant Installation of Present Orientation and Safety (CIPOS) method can be used to extend the healing power of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) to many clients who are potentially vulnerable to dissociative abreaction because of a dissociative personality structure, or because of the client’s intense fear of their own memory material. By constantly strengthening the person’s present orientation through bilateral stimulation (BLS) and carefully controlling the amount of exposure to the trauma memory, the individual is more easily able to maintain dual attention. At the start of the procedure, when the client is most vulnerable to being overwhelmed by disturbance, BLS is not paired with information directly related to the traumatic disturbance. The CIPOS interventions are continued until the client is able to report, using the Back of the Head Scale (BHS), that she is oriented once again toward the present reality of the therapist’s office.

This chapter focuses on the role that Adult Protective Services (APS) and related service systems play in protecting vulnerable older adults and adults with disabilities from abuse, neglect, and exploitation. It articulates policy issues connected to elder justice. The chapter also explores human rights issues related to elder abuse, aging, and disabilities, particularly how to balance rights to self-determination and safety when working with abused, neglected, and exploited older adults. APS operate within a continuum of services that challenge social workers in their efforts to respond effectively to elder abuse. In addition to knowledge of aging, disabilities, the dynamics of family violence and care giving, and community resources and skills in capacity assessment, working in multidisciplinary teams, advocacy, and systems navigation, social workers need commitment to values of self-determination and empowerment to guide their work in this system.