The Male Personality Pathway at Arnold Lodge provides care and treatment for patients with complex or severe personality difficulties or disorders, often survivors of complex trauma who require medium secure care due to the risks they present to others and to themselves. Arnold Lodge's dedicated service for offenders with personality disorder (PD) was opened in 1999 and has treated well over 200 men since that time. This pathway has 24 beds across two wards (Ridgeway and Cannock) and offers an assessment and treatment programme for patients from HM Prisons, the High Secure estate and other services on the forensic mental health and offender personality disorder pathways. Patients can also be referred for specialist treatment from the Male Mental Health pathway at Arnold Lodge.

Treatment Pathway

  • A structured treatment process with clear therapeutic aims and distinct therapies. Our treatment is trauma-informed and based on the Livesley Integrated Modular Treatment [LIMT] for Personality Disorder
  • . There are Therapeutic Community principals that also underpin the structured day and community expectations.
  • Treatment is delivered across two Wards (Ridgeway and Cannock). Patients are supported to progress through five stages of treatment, namely Safety, Containment , Regulation and Modulation, Exploration and Change, and Integration and Synthesis . Patients can proceed to Cannock Ward when they are in the Exploration and Change phase. Treatment is usually group-based facilitated by therapists from different professional backgrounds, supplemented with individual psychological support and interventions.
  • Building and maintaining patients' participation in collaborative working.
  • Ensuring consistency in the treatment process.
  • Providing non-judgemental recognition of the legitimacy of patients' experiences by therapeutic listening and acceptance; striving to live according to our values.
  • Building patients' motivation and commitment to change.
  • Promoting patients' social problem-solving, self-observation, self-knowledge, and self-reflection.
  • All patients on the Personality Pathway have access to the full facilities and services at Arnold Lodge, including an Therapy Services opportunities for meaningful occupation, involvement and skills - patients on the Personality Pathway are often involved in hospital and trust-wide patient involvement initiatives and quality improvements.

Treatment Programme examples

Multi-professional staff and therapists at Arnold Lodge provide many treatment programmes, or 'groups'. Each programme is designed to address a specific difficulty or meet a specific need. The programmes are often called 'groups' because patients take part in these sessions with a group of other patients on the ward. Programmes are designed for individuals based on a psychological formulation of risks and need. Patients are invited to participate in treatment programmes on a rolling 6-monthly basis. 

Preparation Groups to Support Engagement in Hospital

Some groups are designed to help the patient get used to being hospital and help them build the skills they need to engage in groups and with their staff team.

These groups include Orientation to Treatment, the Change Group, and the Trust and Self-Awareness group. Patients may be invited to take part in these programmes, depending on their previous experience of hospital treatment. 

Emotional Understanding and Communication Groups

Several groups are designed to help the patient better understand, manage, and communicate their emotions.

The four DBT Modules - Emotion Regulation, Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Interpersonal Effectiveness - will help patients to name, communicate, and regulate their emotions, particularly those which are difficult or painful to experience.

Compassion Focused Thinking is designed to help patients tolerate difficult emotional experiences and to be more compassionate and kinder to themselves. 

Controlling Angry Aggression is designed to help patients manage their experience of anger, particularly if anger can lead them to become violent. 

Decision Making Skills Groups

Other groups are designed to help patients make better decisions when faced with challenges or difficulties.

Social Problem-Solving will introduce patients to a step-by-step process designed to help solve problems they might have when dealing with other people. Most patients join a Social Problem-Solving group soon after admission to hospital.

Social Skills and Life Skills groupsare designed to help patients work better with other people. These groups also help patients develop skills to overcome practical challenges they may face in the hospital and in the community. 

Moral Reasoning and Discussion Group take a more flexible approach to exploring patients' past and current difficulties. 

 

Offence Focused Intervention Programmes

We offer programmes designed to address specific areas of offending . 

  • The Life Minus Violence programme addresses difficulties with physical and/or sexual violence. 
  • FIP-MO is a programme designed to understand and address fire setting risks.
  • Achieving Healthy Relationships aims to address difficulties with violent relationships.
  • Controlling Substance Misuse and CFT for Addictive Behaviours take different approaches to exploring and addressing substance misuse. 

Patients also have access to the Unit-wide Men's Violence Reduction Treatment Programme for men whose violence is formulated to relate to psychotic experiences.

Strengths Based Recovery Programmes

We also have several programmes designed to build on patients' strengths to support their recovery and the development of a more positive future.

The CHIME and GOOD LIVES group will help patients find their strengths as well as highlight areas of their life which they can build more strengths. The Preparation for Leave group provides support in considering future community integration and S17 leave. 

Goal- Setting will help patients to learn how to set short-term and long-term goals which will help patients work towards a positive future.

The Transitions programme will support patients to move between wards within the hospital, or between hospitals or different levels of security. 

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