Our centre

I.T.E.R is an outpatient clinic where offenders of sexual abuse can find help. "Iter" is a Latin word (as in "itinery") and means "the way ahead" or "an expedition". The letters of the word I.T.E.R. represent the purposes of our therapy: I-mpuls control, T-ackling re-offending, E-mpathy awareness, R-esponsibility acceptance.

I.T.E.R. is a working partnership linking CAW Archipel-Groot Eiland vzv, CCCZ Ahaseverus VZW, and Teaching Projects. The three organisations have pooled their recourses to form one single team of the area Brussels/Halle/Vilvoorde. In this way the provisions drawn up between the Flemish Authority and the national Ministry of Justice regarding conform ability in the treatment of sexual offenders have been fulfilled at local level. In addition Archipel-Groot Eiland is authorised to supervise the welfare of patients in the district of Leuven.

By means of this co-operation I.T.E.R. can give a clear picture of the help it offers to all those interested. There is now just one Flemish-speaking reporting centre in the whole area for the therapy and counselling of sexual offenders. As well as this, the partnership allows I.T.E.R. to evaluate patients' files inter-disciplinarily. In the interest of accessibility and because of the anonymity offered by a large city, Brussels was chosen as location. This was made possible through the support of the Flemish General Assembly.

What we offer

The services of I.T.E.R. are at present limited to the needs of offenders of sexual abuse. Our help programme offers concrete help as follows:

• Admission and provision of information.
• Consultation, psycho-criminalistic testing, symptom analyses, expertise.
• Treatment and guidance specially devised for offenders:
  • In the legal context, reporting back to the counts.
  • In the non-legal context, reporting back to the referring
  • authority (e.g. Help Centre for Child Abuse, Committee for Youth Welfare).
  • Such help and guidance requested by the offender and his/her milieu.
  • Pre-therapy for clients still under sentence in prison.
    System support with the function of a therapy for offenders.
• Coaching and, or, consultation for non-specialist and therapists working with offenders of sexual abuse.
• Organisation, training, and (team) guidance.

Our therapy is based on tackling re offending and boosting motivation; individual therapy sessions; group sessions; psychiatric and audio logistic consultations; behaviours guidance therapy; system directed psychotherapy; bonding and sexual relationships; special skills training (e.g. Stress and rage management) social skills.

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