Home / SPIn™
The Service Planning Instrument (SPIn) is an exciting model for assessing risk, need and protective factors in adult populations. It can be used in probation, parole, re-entry and custodial settings where there is a requirement to assess risk of recidivism and identify service needs. As the name implies, helping case workers develop service plans for their criminal justice clients is the primary objective in using SPIn. SPIn also provides scoring that is helpful for classifying offenders according to overall risk level so that adequate supervision resources can be assigned.
In many instances case managers complete risk and need assessments thoroughly, but fail to bring the process to the next step. In designing the SPIn, it was recognized that new advances in assessment must focus on user application issues – building assessment interfaces that help users apply the results. A critical feature of the SPIn approach is to link assessment results in an immediate way to the process of individualized case planning and appropriate service provision. SPIn helps with case planning by identifying need areas that can be easily linked to interventions and other services for adult offenders. The web-based software uses attractive graphical features to display the results of the SPIn assessment. After producing a risk and protective factor profile, the SPIn software helps guide users through the development of a case plan. The software also provides a facility to track progress on the case plan over time.
The SPIn emphasizes that assessment is only one step. Without case planning, assessing risk, needs and protective factors has little value on its own. While each of the case planning steps are intimately tied to assessment results, implementation of the model emphasizes that assessment must result in case management decision-making and the implementation of individualized plans to reduce recidivism. SPIn has also been designed to be a “dynamic” assessment tool, providing reassessment measures that are sensitive to change. As such, SPIn can be used for case planning as well as ongoing monitoring of progress in reducing the likelihood of recidivism.
Orbis Partners focuses on providing a range of services for implementation of SPIn, including customization of the tool, training for administration of SPIn, using the tool for case planning, implementation planning and support, validation of scoring, and other research services aimed at deriving maximum benefit from the rich database that is developed by SPIn users. Orbis has placed considerable emphasis on helping our clients gain maximum benefit from the case planning capabilities of this case work model. As such a special 2-day training is devoted specifically to using SPIn for case planning purposes. We have developed a number of additional tools for helping jurisdictions make the most of SPIn, including supervisor training, quality assurance assessment, data workshops, refresher training and onsite technical support.
The Service Planning Instrument (SPIn) is an exciting model for assessing risk, need and protective factors in adult populations. It can be used in probation, parole, re-entry and custodial settings where there is a requirement to assess risk of recidivism and identify service needs.
