Compassion Focused-Risk Aware 121

Online training

1-to-1 Therapy programme for managing sexual risk delivered over Zoom

The 3-day course is designed to provide qualified counsellors, therapists and other practitioners with a comprehensive grounding in order to work with individuals who have sexually offended offline and online, have been accused of sexual offending or who pose a sexual risk. The first day will explore the emotional challenges and the legal and ethical considerations of working with this client group, as well as providing an overview of why and how individuals commit sexual offences and the different therapeutic/rehabilitative ways of working with these clients. The second two days provide attendees with a therapeutic rehabilitation programme (COFRA 121) to help men manage sexual risk and to live more pro-social, satisfying lives. COFRA 121 consists of sixteen 90-minute sessions, is evidence-informed and brings together compassionate mindfulness, CBT and strengths-focused approaches. COFRA 121 offers a structured yet flexible, easy to follow way of working with contact and internet offenders and those who have not offended but who may be at risk of doing so, or those who are displaying problematic sexual behaviour. Attendees will be provided with programme and resource manuals to use with future clients.

The 3-day training will be delivered by Dr Andrew Smith, the author of COFRA 121, and the book Counselling Male Sexual Offenders: A Strengths-based Approach. Attendance of the 3-day course is a necessary condition for qualified counsellors to become a counsellor for StopSO. On the final afternoon of the three-day event, a StopSO Board member will attend to explain what it is like to be a StopSO counsellor and the next steps to take. The first day of the course, or the two COFRA days, or the entire three days can also be attended by counsellors already working with StopSO, who want to consolidate their knowledge, or other practitioners who want to gain knowledge and skill with regard to working with this client group, but do not want to become StopSO counsellors.

Training schedule

Day 1 (Foundation Day)                                

The emotional challenges for counsellors working with this client group
Stats on sexual offending
How and why people commit sexual offending
Profiles of different types of offenders, including types of internet offenders
Ways of working with sex offenders (including Finkelhor cycle of offending)
Crossing the line from sexual addiction to sexual offending online
Risk Assessment
Confidentiality and reporting

Day 2: COFRA 121 Programme

Introduction to COFRA 1 to 1
Session 1
Session 2
Session 3
Session 4
Session 5
Session 6
Session 7
Session 8

Day 3:  COFRA 121 Programme

Session 9
Session 10
Session 11
Session 12
Session 13
Session 14
Session 15
Session 16

In the afternoon of the final day of the COFRA course, a member of the StopSO Board will discuss the following:

  • What it is like to be a StopSO counsellor
  • An outline of StopSO policies and procedures
  • The next step to becoming a StopSO counsellor.

The first training course will take place over the following three days:

Cost of the full 3 days training – £325

Includes full programme manual and reusable resource pack

(A one-off price will be offered to organisations wanting to purchase the training for staff teams)

Available dates – 2025 

February 19, 20, 21
May 7, 8, 9
September 10, 11, 12
December 3, 4, 5

Book now

Please ensure you have read and accept our terms and conditions as they form part of the booking contract.