This Beyond the Field issue focuses on social connectedness and how it affects participants, with the aim of helping treatment court teams design, implement, and enhance programs so they improve participant outcomes.
This publication includes six article summaries on the importance of connection on the treatment of addictive disorders. Those article summaries cover the following topics: the importance of social connectedness and the negative impacts of social isolation; the essential practice of connection for therapeutic jurisprudence in treatment courts; how presence is the foundation of connection, how people can practice active listening and making deliberate choices, and a description of what mindfulness is and how to practice it at work; an examination of personal philosophies and beliefs in the work of Treatment Courts; how team members including prosecuting and defense attorneys, law enforcement, case managers, and probation/parole agents can experience compassion fatigue; how therapeutic jurisprudence can be put into practice through the use of empathy; and efforts to identify the core components of effective therapy relationships.