Pathways to Healthy Sexuality

The Pathways Program is a treatment program for adults whose harmful or abusive sexual behavior has caused them problems in their personal, social, familial, or occupational functioning. The Pathways Program uses three therapy workbooks: the Pathways Workbook, the Good Life Workbook, and the Chaperon Workbook. The Pathways Workbook is part of the Pathways Program and in fact, the Pathways Program was named after the Pathways Workbook. The Pathways Workbook itself does not constitute the Pathways Program. It takes all three workbooks to create the Pathways Program.

You cannot do one without the others. If you are going to rehabilitate adults who sexually abuse, you must do offense-specific treatment and you must teach skills so your clients can replace their maladaptive behaviors with adaptive ones. You also have to create a support group that will be there after the client is no longer in treatment. That is the function of the Chaperon Workbook. This workbook is designed to build a support group that the client can rely on long after treatment is over. The Pathways Workbook is chocked full of cognitive behavioral therapy offense-specific therapy assignments. The Good Life workbook is a psychoeducational workbook using positive psychology therapeutic assignments.

Dr. Ferrara started every major sex offender treatment program in the State of Texas, including the Sexually Violent Predator Program and the sex offender treatment programs in the juvenile and adult prisons. Dr. Ferrara has started sex offender treatment programs in the community including specialized programs for mentally ill and neurologically impaired sexual abusers. Dr. Ferrara has operated his own community sex offender treatment program since 1990.