Objectives

PSY GYM, located at Lo Wu Correctional Institution, was set up in 2011 to provide diversified and tailor-made psychological assessment and treatment for female persons in custody (PIC) with moderate to high levels of emotional distress and psychological needs. The establishment of PSY GYM has turned a new page in psychological assessment and treatment for female PIC in the Correctional Services Department (CSD).

Clinical psychologists have noticed that there are gender disparities in criminogenic factors and rehabilitation needs of PIC. For instance, compared with their male counterparts, female PIC are more likely to have emotional disorders, prior trauma and abuse experiences, and self-harm tendency. In view of these unique psychological needs of female PIC, CSD has set up PSY GYM to provide treatment for their emotional distress and promote their psychological health and personal growth.

Programme Content

Participants go through a series of intensive treatment programmes conducted by clinical psychologists. Through cognitive behavioural therapy and positive psychology intervention, participants learn to regulate their negative emotions and develop their strengths. PSY GYM programmes cover topics such as mood management, desistance from re-offending, interpersonal relationships, promoting mindful awareness to positivity, thinking with hope and so on. In addition to structured and in-depth group sessions, individual coaching and treatment sessions conducted by clinical psychologists are arranged to accommodate different learning progress and the unique psychological needs of individual participants. Participants cultivate a supportive atmosphere in a therapeutic environment for learning and practice of skills. They put the newly acquired skills into continuous practice in daily life and turn the skills into habits.

Figure 1. PSY GYM treatment model

Programme Characteristics

1. Innovative Treatment Approach

Traditional cognitive behavioural therapy tends to focus on “fixing the problems.” In PSY GYM, clinical psychologists incorporate positive psychology intervention into traditional therapy and expand treatment focus to “finding the strengths” to enhance the effectiveness of psychotherapy. PSY GYM is a pioneer in applying positive psychology intervention systematically to psychological treatment programmes in a correctional setting in Asia or even across the world!

2. Use of Art

PSY GYM integrates art into its treatment programmes. Participants recognise and manage their negative emotions through expressing their inner feelings and thoughts in their art creation.

3. Therapeutic Environment

With the use of elements of therapeutic community, participants develop communal relationships with one another and apply newly acquired skills in daily life. They support and learn from one another. Clinical psychologists understand difficulties encountered by participants through practice in the therapeutic environment, and turn these challenges into learning points to advance participants' skills in handling problematic situations.

Honorary Advisor

Professor Samuel M. Y. HO of the Department of Applied Social Studies, City University of Hong Kong, a local expert on positive psychology, has been invited by CSD to be the honorary advisor of PSY GYM for the enhancement of treatment quality.

Honorary Advisor, Professor Samuel HO (3rd from the left), Senior

Clinical Psychologist of PSS1, Dr. Judy HUI (3rd from the right),

and other Clinical Psychologists

Future Direction

Preliminary study on the effectiveness of PSY GYM programmes showed promising results, which indicated significant improvement regarding participants' mood, their senses of hope and gratitude upon completion of programmes. Prof. HO, the honorary advisor, pointed out that clinical psychologists of PSY GYM had demonstrated original and effective treatment strategies in PSY GYM programmes. In this prospect, clinical psychologists will continue to develop and refine treatment programmes based on research findings to further advance and adapt these programmes to cater for female PIC with diversified needs. Meanwhile, PSY GYM will continue to bring about positive and sustainable changes in mood, cognition and behaviours of participants to facilitate their successful rehabilitation.

Awards

CSD was awarded by the Women's Commission with Gender Mainstreaming Award in 2013 in recognition of its consideration to the unique rehabilitation needs of female PIC in its policies. PSY GYM was particularly named for this honour. In addition, on behalf of Psychological Services Section 1 of CSD, PSY GYM received the Meritorious Award and Special Citation (Responsiveness to Customer Needs) under Team Award (Specialised Service) in the Civil Service Outstanding Service Awards Scheme 2015. These awards were a recognition of the quality treatment delivered by PSY GYM and its gender-responsive approach to meet the needs of female PIC.