Elien Neimeijer

93 rensic care for people with MID-BIF, that is working at the intersection of forensic care, psychiatry and care for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Because daily interactions between clients and sociotherapists can be seen as trans- actional processes (Sameroff, 2009), it is considered that sociotherapists and the way they function is influential in creating a therapeutic group climate (De Valk, 2019). There is preliminary evidence to suggest that a positive work climate, as perceived by socio- therapists, is necessary in the degree to which sociotherapists can build an open and therapeutic group climate (Van der Helm & Stams, 2012). To enable sociotherapists to create a therapeutic group climate, it seems crucial to have a positive work climate. Work climate constitutes specific elements that influence (team)functioning and wellbeing of sociotherapists and can be defined as “the quality of the social and physical work envi- ronment in terms of the provision of sufficient and necessary conditions for occupational functioning, with respect for personnel’s human dignity and human rights and charac- terised by work demands (quality of work) and the employee’s decision latitude, aimed at the enabling of youth in recovery and successful participation in society” (De Valk, 2019, p.110; based on Heerkens, Engels, Kuiper, Van der Gulden, & Oostendorp, 2004; Stams & Van der Helm, 2017). If we want to understand and influence the quality of group and work climate in secure forensic care settings, it is necessary that the surrounding systems are taken into account To gain insight into the factors that influence group climate, as perceived by individu- als with MID-BIF and work climate as reported by sociotherapists, it is helpful to view secure forensic treatment from a systemic perspective. If we want to understand the quality of group and work climate in secure forensic care settings and to influence them, it is necessary that the surrounding systems are taken into account (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Olivier-Pijpers, 2020; Van Miert, & Dekker, 2020). The factors that work in systems above the micro level can be positive and supportive, but also hindering or “challenging” for the task that sociotherapists have. The mesosystem concerns the interaction between factors that directly influence the microsystem, but of which the client is not directly part. An example of the mesosystem is team functioning. The exosystem comprises con- textual, external factors that directly influence sociotherapists, and indirectly clients. An