The Breakfast Club

On Tuesday April 14th at 9am, please join us as Kirsten Mason, Psy.D. presents: “CA Sex Offender Management Board (CASOMB): An Introduction to CASOMB and its impact on the Community Management of Sex Offenders In CA.”

The CA Sex Offender Management Board (CASOMB) was created in 2006 and is governed by PC 9000-9003. CASOMB creates standards and certification requirements for sex offender management professionals and programs as well as standards for Polygraph Examiners. This presentation will provide an overview of the CASOMB as well as some of their duties, current projects, and future goals. Learn about the certification standards and expectations for treatment providers who treat individuals mandated to received sex offender treatment pursuant to PC 290. Discuss the Containment Model and factors imperative to collaborating with the Containment Team.

Join us for our monthly Breakfast Club meeting at 9 am, May 12th, where Sandra Henriquez, MBA, and Gayle Hepner, ED, will present “Mapping California’s Victim Advocacy Landscape for Sexual Harm.”

This presentation provides a practical, statewide overview of sexual assault victim advocacy in California—who advocates are, where they operate, and how survivors encounter advocacy across systems. The presentation traces key milestones of the rape crisis movement, from the emergence of community-led rape crisis centers in the early 1970s to the development of California’s coordinated advocacy infrastructure.

Participants will learn to distinguish between community-based advocates—often grounded in rape crisis centers and rooted in confidential, survivor-driven support—and system-based advocates, who are embedded within law enforcement, prosecution, campuses, or other institutions to assist survivors in navigating investigative and legal processes. The session will highlight service models commonly provided by community-based advocates, including crisis intervention, accompaniment, safety planning, resource navigation, and survivors’ rights education, while clarifying distinctions related to confidentiality, mandated reporting, and the contexts in which each type of advocate becomes involved.

Finally, the presentation will examine persistent coordination gaps among victim advocates, sex offender treatment providers, and probation officers. It will explore why collaboration can be challenging, where communication breakdowns occur, and why intentional, structured partnership remains essential for survivor safety, informed supervision, and meaningful accountability.

On Tuesday morning, June 9th, 2026, at 9:00 a.m., please join Mervyn Davies as he presents “An Intro to Viewing Time & the Look Assessment.”

Viewing time is used to better understand our clients’ sexual interests. It aids in building a treatment plan and risk assessment. These tools have been used since the 1990’s in the assessment and treatment of convicted sexual offenders. This presentation will aid in therapists, evaluators, and supervising officers’ understanding of how viewing time works, and will end with a presentation of the Look Assessment.

Sign up below, and we will send you the Zoom link to join and share with your colleagues.

On Tuesday, July 14, 2026, at 9:00 am, we are excited to be meeting with Steven Sawyer, MSSW, LICSW, who will be presenting “The Impact of the Facilitator in Group Therapy.”

The group modality is widely used in treatment programs and often primarily seen as a treatment delivery method, but group therapy can be more than just a treatment method depending on how the group is facilitated. A therapy group can provide a relationship-oriented environment where relationship issues can be addressed within the group process and as part of an overall treatment program structure when there is a focus on the member to member interactions.

For example, relationship stability, significant social influences, and social rejection are dynamic risk factors that play out in how group members interact with (or avoid) group peers.

These offense related dysfunctional relationship dynamics present an opportunity to facilitate meaningful connections in the therapy group while concomitantly relieving the pain of social isolation and pattern of perceived rejection they experienced prior to treatment.

How the facilitator engages the group with each other as opposed to engaging in “individual therapy in the group” is key to how the group functions.

Sign up below, and we will send you the Zoom link to join and share with your colleagues.

On Tuesday, September 8th, we will feature a 45-minute training

Followed by our monthly updates and networking. Please sign up below to RSVP if you haven't already joined our training email list.

On Tuesday, October 13th, at 9:00 a.m., we will host our monthly meet and train

The training will be followed by updates from stakeholders in our specialty in California and networking opportunities.