Avoiding "starburst": The need to identify common metrics of evaluating strengths-based programmes in prison'

The notions of strengths-based working in health and justice are not new and areas as diverse as positive psychology and criminology, mental health and addictions recovery, and therapeutic jurisprudence and restorative approaches in the justice field all share a common set of principles and values that may offer some insights into questions of evaluation, effectiveness and measurement. The first part of this paper will examine the shared foundations of strengths- based approaches and this will inform a second section examining common principles in these models. Part Three will then provide three illustrative examples of strengths-based programmes in prisons in the United Kingdom (UK), before the final section, Part Four, outlines a two-tier model of strengths-measurement that will help to avoid 'starburst', that is, where the benefit is so short-lived that it has no lasting impact on the wellbeing of the prison or its constituents.