Ethics and Pride in Quality. The Therapeutic Community (TC) is an environment that helps people get help while helping themselves. It operates in a similar fashion to a functional family with a hierarchical structure of older and younger members. Each member has a defined role and responsibilities for sustaining the proper functioning of the TC. There are sets of rules and community norms that members commit to live by and uphold upon entry. The primary “therapist” and teacher is the community itself, consisting of peers, staff/probation and parole officers and even Volunteer Probation Aides (VPA), who, as role models of successful personal change, serve as guides in the recovery process. The VOLUNTEER PROBATION ASSISTANT (VPA) PROGRAM is a strategy by which the Parole and Probation Administration may be able to generate maximum citizen participation or community involvement. Citizens of good standing in the community may volunteer to assist the probation and parole officers in the supervision of a number of probationers, parolees and conditional pardonees in their respective communities. Since they reside in the same community as the client, they are able to usher in the reformation and rehabilitation of the clients hands-on. In collaboration with the PPO, the VPA helps pave the way for the offender, victim and community to each heal from the harm resulting from the crime done. They can initiate a circle of support for clients and victims to prevent further crimes, thereby be participants in nation-building See also Department of Justice References Sources Presidential Decree 968, as amended E.O. 468, s. 2005 Revitalizing the Volunteer Probation Aide (VPA) Program of the PAROLE AND PROBATION ADMINISTRATION Republic Act 10707, An Act Amending Presidential Decree No. 968, Otherwise Known As The "PROBATION LAW OF 1976", As Amended http://probation.gov.ph External links PPA Homepage PPA Region 8 Department of Justice (Philippines) Law enforcement in the Philippines Prison and correctional agencies Establishments by Philippine presidential decree