Living ‘good lives’: using mentoring to support desistance and recovery

Abstract

In recent years, a proliferation of mentoring projects have been established in England and Wales, targeted at both offenders and drug users. This is, in part, a consequence of high-level encouragement to establish such schemes. Mentoring features throughout the Ministry of Justice’s Transforming Rehabilitation strategy as a tool to support offenders to ‘get their lives back on track’, and the 2017 drug strategy highlights the importance of peer mentoring for those engaged in treatment services. Using Kingdon’s multiple streams approach, the article accounts for the popularity of mentoring within criminal justice and drug policy despite a less than convincing evidence-base. His model is based upon an appreciation of three streams (problem, policies and politics) which coincide when a compelling problem is linked to a plausible solution that meets the test of political feasibility. It is argued that mentoring has come to be viewed as a cost-effective solution to reduce reoffending and improve drug treatment outcomes despite a lack of conclusive evidence. It has garnered support because of its fit with dominant political discourses around citizenship and civil society. Mentoring has received support from within and without government but its inherent appeal overshadows a lack of clarity of what mentoring is and insufficient theoretical understanding of why it might be effective. Consequently, it is proposed that the Good Lives Model, a strengths-based rehabilitation theory, might provide an appropriate theoretical base and inform discussions about the role of mentoring within desistance and recovery journeys.     

Scalp electrical recording during paralysis: quantitative evidence that EEG frequencies above 20 Hz are contaminated by EMG.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the possible contribution of electromyogram (EMG) to scalp electroencephalogram (EEG) rhythms at rest and induced or evoked by cognitive tasks. METHODS: Scalp EEG recordings were made on two subjects in presence and absence of complete neuromuscular blockade, sparing the dominant arm. The subjects undertook cognitive tasks in both states to allow direct comparison of electrical recordings. RESULTS: EEG rhythms in the paralysed state differed significantly compared with the unparalysed state, with 10- to 200-fold differences in the power of frequencies above 20 Hz during paralysis. CONCLUSIONS: Most of the scalp EEG recording above 20 Hz is of EMG origin. Previous studies measuring gamma EEG need to be re-evaluated. SIGNIFICANCE: This has a significant impact on measurements of gamma rhythms from the scalp EEG in unparalysed humans. It is to be hoped that signal separation methods will be able to rectify this situation.