'The Phone Call From Hell` - the therapist’s reaction to when a sex offender calls - A TAP Talk by Juliet Grayson

Report by David Trott Tap Council Member.

​On 14 October, TAP members and guests had another opportunity to expand their own Continuing Professional Development when Juliet Grayson presented her talk entitled `The Phone Call From Hell` - the title reflecting a Therapist’s possible reaction to when a sex offender calls.

Juliet is co-founder and chair of StopSo  (Specialist Treatment Organisation for the Prevention of Sexual Offending) which is a not for profit organisation that is working to stop sexual offending through therapy.  StopSo has formed a nationwide network of therapists who are trained to work with anyone who is concerned about their sexual behaviour and feels that they may be at risk of committing a sexual offence, or re-offending.

Although hugely busy with StopSo, Juliet explained that her main work as a psychotherapist lies with couples who are experiencing sexual problems in their relationship.  She is also an accomplished author and one of the most experienced practitioners of Pesso Boyden System Psychotherapy in the UK.

The evening commenced with some audience participation in the form of a quiz entitled `Sex, Statistics and the Law`.   This gave participants the opportunity to test themselves in current law with regard to sexual offending in the UK. The cleverly compiled twenty questions produced some head scratching and a few surprises when the correct answers were revealed.  This resulted in the mild suspicion that there were possibly some gaps in the audience’s knowledge.
Later a video of Dr James Cantor, who is a Canadian clinical psychologist and sexologist was shown.  In this, he discusses the work which has been done to understand the minds of paedophiles as well as some common physical characteristics, such as lower IQ, left handedness and below average height.

Juliet revealed that there are only around 86,000 places in UK prisons and so it’s not possible to incarcerate every offender.  This simple fact highlighted the value of the work of StopSo and other similar organisations in this field.

The slides from Juliet's presentation are available to download HERE.

Tea and coffee were served afterwards which gave everyone the chance to discuss and reflect on yet another superb presentation.  The next TAP Talk is on18 November when Dr Sue Whitcombe presents Smoke Without Fire: The challenges of identifying and working with Parental Alienation.   All are very welcome.  

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