Would you work with this T?

If you suffered CSA, would you be able to work with a T who previously "treated" offenders?
See a T that specifically spent several years trying to do therapy with sex offenders?
Something about going from "treating" offenders to helping victims/survivors is odd to me.... especially when studies have shown that almost 50% of sex offenders are rearrested for some crime and therapy only reduces the recidivism rate <20%.

I know that many offenders were victims themselves, but they made a choice to hurt someone else and therefore became offenders, in a different category. Most victims do not.

It makes me question how "sincere" a therapist can be if they can play sides of such an extreme dichotomy of abuser/victim.

Do you have two threads on the same thing or is this one different?

It would not bother me, but I have represented convicted offenders as a public defender. Even though there is cs in my background, it never really bothered me as such. It does not bother me who else the therapist sees. I mostly think of it as good if people are trying to get help.

My last T had spent a lot of time on the sex abuse team working with offenders. It made me feel very safe telling him ANYTHING.

My T worked with a few offenders over the years. It doesn't bother me.

hm.... i think i would not feel very safe.

If the T had only worked with a few offenders as part of his/her general practice, that would be fine with me. However, I would not choose to work with a T who specialized in sex offenders. I would feel as though the T could empathize and connect with them-- and, personally, I don't think I could connect or feel safe with someone who had that kind of empathy.

I'm not sure the line is as clear and simple as it appears, but that's sort of beside the point.

Is this a fact you just found out about a T you've been working with? Or are you deciding whether or not to choose a T with this experience?

If it's the former, I would wonder if you're feeling a bit betrayed, or if something else has triggered a loss of trust.

If it's the latter, I think you need to go with whatever your gut is telling you because it will present an additional barrier to forming an attachment.

For me personally, I don't think it would matter much, as I see the behaviors more on a continuum than opposing.

I've often wondered about this.

For example, my perp would never admit he was a perp. In his mind he didn't do anything wrong and he describes past assaults he's perpetrated in ways that make them seem like he is innocent of wrongdoing. But I know better. The irony is..... he was in therapy (for an addiction) at the time he assaulted me. I've often wondered if his therapist knew what he was. She only sees events from "his" point of view after all and may not genuinely knows anything is wrong. He can hide himself well.

This means theoretically that any T can work with perps and not know it. I wrestled with this for some time. I decided all that matters is whether they are a good fit for me. The only things I would worry about is "meeting" perps in the waiting room (safety issues), and would not want to work with a T who specializes in perps. But if they worked with one here and there I guess I wouldn't know and so it wouldn't affect me.

I've run into this before. My previous therapist worked with abusers. My current one does too.

It's not easy to reconcile at all. Did he normalize their actions? Offer them support? Tell them everything would be okay?

Where did they sit in the waiting room? Did they sit where I sat in the office? Did I see one in the waiting room?

My previous therapist finally told me that he didn't see anyone that was currently offending, but whose history did include it. My current therapist sees court ordered cases, so all bets are off there.

I guess the bottom line turned out to be how they were with me. Who knows maybe because they are getting help they can turn things around.

I don't know, i don't think i could work with a T who had worked with offenders.

I know it should't matter, but somehow it just does, for the same reasons others have said... like did the T be empathic to that offender etc? How could they?

On the other-hand, i need to know why things happen the way they did and a T who's got insight into how offenders minds work would be invaluable.

All down to personal choice i guess.

Yeah I wouldn't see a T who specialize in sex offenders- don't know why. Just wouldn't.
That being said, I know for a fact my T too has seen / is seeing some perps too. I asked [2 or 3 years ago] and he told me and I asked how he is able to talk to them / offer his empathy and he told me that he wouldn't work with a client [called them "clients"] that were currently hurting ppl and/or were showing no signs of regrets and/or were unwilling to change their behavior- otherwise he wants to try to help them. I know they are ppl too, some of them deeply hurting...blah, blah, blah. Frankly, I don't care. Once you conscientiously choose to hurt others in these ways I can have no whatsoever compassion for you [yeah I know it makes me narrow-minded cruel individual]
MY T being emphatic to them? I don't like to think about that so I better won't. However, a part of me hates him for doing it and I told him so.

The OP said this is a case of a T who previously treated sex offenders, not currently.

I suspect many T's work with people who have done lots of things we would have problems with: child abuse, verbal abuse, spousal abuse, drinking and driving, etc. I have problems with all of the above, BUT as long as those other clients' issues aren't messing with my own therapy, (and honestly, unless you have a pretty incompetent T, why would they?) then I'm not too worried about it. Just because a T works with people who have done certain wrong things doesn't mean they are condoning what those people have done. I suspect it is far from that.

My therapist has worked with sex offenders and has a current client who is a pedophile. My T is really clear that he will report a client who is hurting another person. Period. I do not believe that my T would offer support to a person who was hurting or had hurt children and tell them that what they had done was no big deal.

Also, as pbutton said, knowing that my T has worked with a pedophile makes me feel safer in telling him MY gross stuff. Because nothing I have done or even thought about doing is as bad as that. If he can hear what that guy has to say and still have compassion for him, my stuff isn't going to make my T reject me.

I would feel uncomfortable if I was aware of it, simply because the mere thoughts of being around such people (or possibly being around them) makes me start to panic a bit. I never really got 'over' the past. I think the insight could be invaluable, but I wouldn't be able to handle it if I knew that recent offenders were going to be in the same place as me within a same period of time. (Partially why I'm glad to have my appts at 7 p.m, no one else to see on most times)

my uncle is a counselor and has worked with offenders. sometimes it was a case of an 18 yr old
and 16 yr old having consensual sex and parents of 16 year old didnt like 18 year old. sometimes it
was more sinister.he didn't always like the kids he counseled or condone their behavior. it was usually sad, he worked with juvenile offenders in prison. if i went to a T who counseled offenders, i don't know if it would bother me. if it did, i would definitely need to get it out into the open.

No, personally I wouldn't. I don't have experience with sexual abuse myself, but just the thought would make me very uncomfortable! Perhaps finding someone else would be good.

As long as they had experience treating victims too, this wouldn't bother me. In fact, I would feel more comfortable with them as a result. Many perps intentionally groom their victims, manipulate them, play mind games, brainwash, etc. I think a t who dealt with this type of perp would have an eye for the effects in vics, and be able to more easily pinpoint how self-destructive mindsets were created in the victims. This would be invaluable in treatment.

Furthermore, I would see this t as truly caring enough about the problem to look at it from all angles. Unless we can get to the heart of what drives abusers and stop the crimes from occurring in the first place, more and more people will get hurt. I knew a t who only took on pedophiles, and it was BECAUSE she was abused as a child, and wanted to figure out how to stop this from occurring in the future. She endured a lot of harassment from people who never knew her history.

I also would prefer someone who could have compassion for all people. I would feel less likely to be judged as a result. Also, part of my journey in this involved getting to the point where I saw the abusers as flawed humans rather than all powerful monsters. This took away their power. It can be difficult for people who haven't endured abuse to see the humanity in all people, and it's an even harder journey for those who have. I would want a t who could do this and help me to truly heal. To go from victim to survivor to someone who thrives and can truly leave it behind.

Of course, if they tried to rush me to that step, then I wouldn't feel comfortable. But this would go for any t who I couldn't connect to, and who couldn't deal with me in the place I was currently at.

it's kinda like saying you would never associate with anyone who worked in a prison, isn't it? Or is it just that you don't want them as YOUR therapist? idk. one of the graduate school T's I was seeing was going to work with prisoners - I would see him again if I could, he was brilliant. we used to joke that I would have to kill somebody first

You and pbutton are two smart women. Thanks for this perspective.

My T has told me that there are two camps in the T world that show up at conferences relating to victims-- one is the T's who only work with victims, and the other is the group that work with victims and perpetrators (the sex offender T's have their own conferences). My T has worked with offenders, he might still for all I know, and I actually felt good about this because I don't think he would let them get away with any crap. He has been open with me about his history of childhood abuse and I know for sure that he's no apologist for offenders, including those he has worked with. Also, not to forget that many perpetrators have a history of abuse in their background, so the line between victim and perpetrator is not as clear as one might think.