Pre-trial therapy
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) changed their guidance on pre-trial therapy in 2022.
What is pre-trial therapy?
Pre-trial therapy is any kind of therapy that is accessed while a criminal case is undergoing investigation by the police, awaiting charge by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), or awaiting a court date.
What is different about the new CPS guidelines?
- You can access therapeutic support while going through the court process
- You can talk about what you need to in your support sessions
- When the police, or CPS, request your support notes, they can only ask for information from your notes that directly relates to your case.
What is SARSAS’ approach to pre-trial therapy?
At SARSAS, we encourage people going through the court process to access the support they need and deserve.
If your notes are requested by the police or CPS, we will always contact you to make sure you are aware of the request and check you are happy for us to proceed. We will offer you the opportunity to view the notes that we hold about you and redact (remove) any personal information (e.g. phone numbers, names) that is not related to you before we arrange to release them to the police or CPS.
You can read our full request for notes procedure here.
All our support staff have received training on pre-trial therapy and understand the importance of keeping minimal notes about your sessions.
If you want to speak to someone at SARSAS about pre-trial therapy, please contact us at info@SARSAS.org.uk or by phone on 0117 929 9556 or 01823 324 944.
The Bluestar Project have fantastic resources for individuals and professionals on their website: Pre-Trial Resources – Bluestar Project.
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