New Telegraph

Psychologists to counsel sex offenders

In a bid to curb sexual and gender-based violence in society, the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA) has engaged psychologists to counsel sex offenders.

 

New Telegraph learnt that the sex offenders’ rehabilitation programme which is aimed at mitigating the risk of recidivism by sex offenders was carried out in collaboration with the Nigerian Correctional Service, Lagos State Command and the Institute of Counseling of Nigeria.

 

The sex offenders’ rehabilitation programme is in partnership with the Nigerian Correctional Service, Lagos State Command and the Institute of Counseling of Nigeria.

 

DSVA noted it was imperative that incarcerated adult offenders are rehabilitated and supported to reduce the possibility of them perpetrating the same crime if they are eventually reintegrated into society.

 

The programme, which is held in sessions and groups, is facilitated by a group of trained psychologists from DSVA and the Institute of Counseling on a weekly basis, where inmates are expected to take responsibility for their actions and educated on healthy sexuality.

 

Furthermore, inmates are also armed with peer and professional support to manage thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that could lead to inappropriate sexual behaviors.

 

With the counseling, it was learnt that the inmates would also given specialised strategies to deal with sexual addiction and sexual compulsive behaviors, among many other positive coping skills.

 

While the rehabilitation programme does not offer amnesty or excuse abusive acts, it seeks to reduce the recurrence of child sexual abuse and rape cases by sex convicts in the future.

Read Previous

Drug Abuse: Sanwo-Olu holds talks with experts, stakeholders

Read Next

Housing: Lagos seeks research on innovative building technology

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *