Olivia Henry & Nicky Herron
Providing Accredited Programmes at Scale: The System-Aware Biopsychosocial Model of Change and Building Choices
When to watch:
14th May | 09:45 - 10:45
Keynote Abstract
For over three decades, Accredited Programmes (AcPs) have shaped rehabilitation in His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). Yet evaluations show modest impact on general offending and limited evidence for offence-specific programmes, particularly sexual offending. The Core SOTP evaluation (Mews et al., 2017) found no measurable reduction in sexual reoffending; a pivotal moment prompting scrutiny and reform. This keynote introduces the System-Aware Biopsychosocial Model of Change: a conceptual framework bridging the gap between evidence-based design and scalable delivery. It reframes rehabilitation as a systemic capability rather than isolated programmes, integrating three interdependent layers – biopsychosocial design principles, fidelity infrastructure, and system support – linked by feedback loops for continuous learning and adaptation. By combining insights from rehabilitative theory and implementation science, the model offers a scalable pathway for aligning design, delivery, and organisational conditions.
Its practical application is illustrated through Building Choices, HMPPS’s flagship AcP, which consolidates offence-specific interventions into one person-centred, trauma-informed, needs-led framework addressing the criminogenic needs of people convicted of sexual offences. Supported by the Healthy Sex Programme – our specialist AcP for individuals in prison with atypical offence-related sexual interests – this streamlined framework enables concentrated focus on fidelity, system support, and robust feedback loops, including one of the most ambitious evaluation strategies in HMPPS to date. We argue that Building Choices, underpinned by a System-Aware Biopsychosocial Model of Change, works with scale and complexity rather than against it, offering the best prospect of realising our core purpose: to change lives, reduce harm, and create safer communities.
Biographies
Olivia Henry works for HM Prison and Probation
Service (HMPPS) as a National Specialist Lead (NSL)
for Sexual Offending within Interventions Services.
Olivia holds joint responsibility within this role for the
Accredited Programme Building Choices and
previously the Accredited Programmes Horizon and
iHorizon.
Prior to this role Olivia was a Senior
Probation Officer in the Divisional Sexual Offending
Interventions Unit in the South West of England. Olivia
has over 20 years’ experience of groupwork in the
National Probation Service as a Probation Officer and
Treatment Manager.
Olivia was a Regional Trainer for
the legacy sexual offending treatment programmes
(SOTP) in the community, and the associated dynamic
and static risk assessment tools. She was also
appointed as a short-term placement Inspector for
HMIP’s Thematic Inspection on Sexual Offending in
2018 and is a longstanding member of the Probation
Journal Editorial Board and has recently joined the
NOTA research committee.
Nicky Herron works for His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) as a Clinical Lead for Accredited Offending Behaviour Programmes in Interventions Services. Nicky has over 25 years’ experience as a Chartered Forensic Psychologist. Her work focuses on designing and implementing evidence-informed approaches to rehabilitation at scale within complex systems.
Nicky recently led the clinical decision making in relation to reforms to Accredited Programme, delivering an inclusive, scalable framework that prioritises the drivers of behaviour over offence-specific design. Her interests include implementation science, ethical dimensions of system design, and strategies that enable fidelity and agility in real-world practice.