Family and Friends Forum

Hi,

My person was told it would take about 9 months but with missed weeks due to staffing shortages and closures of the building, planned breaks etc it was close to a year xxx

My person has been told that his course will be face to face attendance in a group setting.

Hi,

It was face to face in a group setting. He found it very beneficial xxx

Morning all

Please can I ask what the horizon course is.

Thanks

Horizon and iHorizon are treatment programmes, run by probation, for people on the SOR. The iHorizon one is for iioc offenders only and is shorter than the main Horizon one.

IHorizon is 23 weekly sessions and Horizon is 31 weekly sessions. Each session is 2 hrs long.

It's important to note that not every person on the sor and working with probation will complete the horizon and ihorizon courses. It has to be part of sentencing or if probation think it will benefit the person xxx

Ah thanks for the information :) x

iHorizon has been recommended for my person, does anyone know if they work it around work commitments etc? He's worried about finding another job with the flexibility to fit around the requirements

Hi inthemoment,

They will take into account work commitments at the time of the course starting. My person didn't have a job at the time of doing the introduction part of the course so they put him on a weekday early session. He ended up getting a nights role whilst on the course as he found it hard to find anything in the daytime that wasn't Monday to Friday. They cannot change groups after a certain point, potentially week two of the group sessions although I can't be 100% on that but a guy on my persons course got a job after the first week and left. It's not really the kind of course that you can pick up at any point as it flows with the group and the individuals within that.
In our area they offer an evening course too so there is flexibility prior to starting a group. I hope this is the same everywhere as employment is difficult enough to find xxx

Once my person is released he's been told he must attend.

question for those who have persons who went to jail. How is he meant to get a full time job, see his probation officer, possibly see the kids and attend the horizon course. Did others find it difficult to do?

Our person didn't go to jail but is juggling uni, work, community service, probation, ihorizons, Lucy faithful course and counselling. It's a lot but possible, we just have to be super organised and prepared (his autistic so being prepared is the main thing)

Can I ask when is covered in these Horizon courses?

Is it a longer & more detailed version of Inform?

Dear Forum Users

We thought it may be useful to shed some knowledge from our experienced team on the topic of programmes, specifically, the Horizon programme The Probation Service has to offer.

There are two variations of the programme, Horizon (typically for contact offences) and iHorizon (typically for online offences). These are treatment programmes which can be completed in custody (please note that only some prisons deliver the programme) or in the community as a requirement on a community order, suspended sentence or for an individual on licence. It takes approximately 9 months to complete this programme, depending how it is delivered. Not everyone who is sentenced for a sexual offence will complete or be eligible for either of the programmes. The waiting lists can be extensive, especially in custodial settings, and there may not be enough time to serve on their sentence to complete the programme.


These courses are different to the ones we offer, Engage Plus and Inform Plus. The programmes we offer are Psychoeducational and are 10 weeks in duration.

We hope this is helpful.

Kind Regards

The Forum Team

Hi Mandymoo,

can only speak from my persons experience but his offence was an online communication offence and his group was a mixed bag of internet communication, iioc and sexual crimes against adults.
I think probation decide during the psr and also have knowledge on the courses that are run in that area and waiting lists etc xxx

Edited to add; how long does he have left with probation? I prompted my persons po when he had eighteen months left just to remind her xxx

Hi Mandymoo, my sons offence was online communication and he has to do the Horizon course. He is on the waiting list for it and is hoping to start it once he has completed his community payback hours. He will have to travel to the course as there isn't one in our local area.

Horizon is similar to informplus, but the focus is on developing strengths for the future, and they do not discuss the offence itself.

Horizon and iHorizon aim to help participants improve in five domains:

• Managing life’s problems (e.g., controlling feelings; solving problems)

• Healthy thinking (e.g., fewer pro-offending beliefs; respecting rights of others)

• Healthy sexual interests (e.g., not using sex to cope with negative events)

• Positive relationships (e.g., perspective-taking; assertiveness; negotiation)

• Sense of purpose (e.g., protective factors; being a good member of society)

I think he would have to complete as usually it is part of the court ordered punishment. There again doesn't seem to be any consistency to when people complete it. On my persons course were people at various stages post sentence. If he has a probation meeting coming up then a reminder of when he finishes his probation sentence might be needed xxx

Thank you Edel2020 for this, this is exactly what I needed thank you:)