Our Theory and Philosophy

 

Our Theory and Philosophy

Change your thoughts and you change your world.

~Norman Vincent Peale

We firmly believe a person will not change their behavior unless: a) the person has a near death experience, b) finds religion (we do not have a religeous approach) or c) the person changes his/her thinking.

 

Education can change a person's thinking.

 

Theoretical Base

 
Choice Theory

The underlying assumption that people are in control of their actions.

Empathy Development

Realizing empathy is crucial to the socialization process.

Learning Theory

People learn through a series of rewards and consequences, internally or externally imposed.

Cognitive Behavior Modification (CBM)

If a person experiences enough emotional discomfort over their decisions they will naturally make different choices.

Moral Development

Most people are unwilling to cause injury to other people, if, they understand the injury.

 

Underlying Assumptions

 

Mankind is inherently selfish.

 

Humans, on the whole, are programmed not to do injury to one another.

 

Humans, on the whole, inherently develop a sense of "right" and "wrong". This preprogramming, for the purposes of this class, will be referred to as the soul.

 

The feelings associated with the desire to haveoften results in a conflict with the soul.

 

A life predominantly driven by feelings is one that has succumbed to its inherent selfishness.

 

A life ruled by its inherent programming, the soul, is one with fewer self-imposed troubles.

 

A life that struggles between feelings and the soul is one that is experiencing the classic human condition.

 

Learning to distinguish between the soul, (trusting your gut, listening to the little voice within you, letting your heart rule, etc) and feelings, our selfish nature, (the desire to have, greed, immediate self gratification, etc.) is a process, which can improve the quality of life.

 

Our Approach

 

Cognitive Restructuring

We assess and address the client's attitudes, values and beliefs.

Victim Awareness

Empathy Development: We help our clients feel the pain of their victim and picture the human being(s) they affected.

Dissonance Therapy

Change occurs when our clients experience and scrutinize the inconsistencies between their thinking and their behavior, and the conflict between their feelings and their soul.

Thinking Errors

Clients will benefit when they learn of the errors and omissions in their belief and values systems.

Skill Building

A key to success is for each client to learn new decision making skills and to assume personal responsibility for their actions and choices.

Education

Each component of a program should begin with an educational piece.

"Process" Counseling"

Clients should be allowed to think through issues and come to their own conclusions. To be effective, a counselor must remove the power from the relationship.

 

Dissonance Therapay

 

The change paradigm of our society and the vast majority of our clients is to focus energy on changing the offending behavior. The primary intervention promoted by our citizens is to try to be the change agent by punishing the offender for his criminal behavior. Clients, on the other hand, not being masochists, tend to depend on commitment and will power in order to change. Though these approaches have proven ineffective time and time again, they are the intervention of choice for most lay, and many professional people. I am not suggesting accountability be abandoned. I am, however, promoting a new zeitgeist, one that also focuses on changing the offender's way of thinking.

Contemporary labels for this added model would include cognitive restructuring, cognitive behavior modification, correcting thinking errors, Rational Emotive Therapy (RET) or even Reality Therapy. Though all of these are of the same genre, the approach outlined in this book is referred to as Dissonance Therapy. The underlying assumption is that if you can be successful at changing a person's thinking, a change in actions will follow.

Research, and years of psychoanalytic therapy, has consistently shown that insight alone does not result in substantial behavior change. In response to this finding Dissonance Therapy strives to go one step further. The objective of Dissonance Therapy is to create significant cognitive dissonance within the client. The resulting unrest and conflict in a persons attitudes, values and beliefs calls for the pursuit of a resolution. This pursuit of resolution culminates in movement seeking homeostasis between a person's thinking and actions. A movement that could go one-way or the other. This model would suggest that when a person experiences cognitive dissonance, either the thinking will change to match the behavior or the behavior will change to match the thinking. With Dissonance Therapy the internal world of the person, their thinking, is what is important, the external world only has meaningful influence to the extent it can impact the thinking of the individual.

Cognitive dissonance occurred for Holly when she, on one hand believed, "I'm a good person. I'm very responsible and moral." and, on the other hand, realized that several of the "little" items around her home were stolen from her employer. Dissonance Therapy predicts Holly, being faced with both facts simultaneously, will experience healthy cognitive dissonance. This approach would predict that such a self realization would result in her either, 1) correcting her behavior (stop stealing and maybe even return the items), 2) adjusting her behavior to match her thinking (rationalization and/or justification in an attempt to convince herself "It's no big deal. They don't care anyway"), or, 3) the less likely, reframing her self image to - "I'm a thief."

Our theory and philosophy are unique, quite specific and specialized. In brief, the message is that people are individually responsible for their behavior. When people make the choice to steal, they have control over their actions and choices. Often times they make these choices based on misconceptions and/or inadequate information. When the thinking is based on inaccurate information, "thinking errors" occur. When people make choices in this manner they, are likely to make poor choices. Offender SolutionsŪ emphasizes the need for people to learn how to make informed and insightful decisions -- to make good choices.

Offender SolutionsŪ deals with the way the offender thinks. We look at what people are thinking (looking for thinking errors), what they are not thinking (looking for thinking omissions) , and give some suggestions on what they might start thinking about. The offender's thinking just prior to the actual incident has proven to be of great importance.

Offender SolutionsŪ addresses victim issues, accountability and personal responsibility. We stronlgy subscribe to evidence based practices. Our approach is to target the criminogenic risk factor of "Attitudes, values and beliefs". We utilize the most effective evidence based intervention - cognitive restructuring - and maintain the philosopy that if a person changes their thoughts, they will change their behaviors.

We know that of the thousands of clients who have gone through - and successfully completed - this program, 86% do not re-offend within one year. Of equal or greater importance is that 84% do not re-offend after two years. This low attrition rate suggests to us that "if" the client gets it, he really does get it. We are proud of our work and expect you will be pleased with our services.

 

 

 

 

Change Your Thinking

 

Get Registered Now!

 

Last Updated: December 5, 2023

 

 

 

 

 

Taking a theft class, theft course or attending a theft school can be a very helpful way to guide your life away from stealing, shoplifting or other theft behaviors which in the short run are very appealing. But, in the long run a life as a theft offender, a life of stealing, shoplifting etc., is one which leads to a dissatisfied and unfulfilled life. Certainly some people are down and out and, as such, feel the need to steal, shoplift, or commit some other form of theft but let me say... there are always options which work better than stealing. Think about your options - there are always options to stealing, shoplifting or other forms of theft. A theft class / theft course or shoplifting class can help!

Take a theft class from Offender Solutions®. Get started on a better life - now!

A Really Good Choice

Offender Solutions® Inc is a convenient way to complete a Court, School or Diversion required theft / shoplifting program

You can take the class from any location in the United States, Europe, Canada or Australia with a computer and internet access. There is nothing to download. No print and read. Simply register, log in, choose your class, pay and begin your shoplifting class.


Offender Solutions® Inc.

A USA Corporation

We serve North and South America,
Europe and Australia

www.offendersolutions.com

Our Philosophy

Change your thoughts and
you change your world.

~ Norman Vincent Peale
(1898-1993)