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Strengths of the Women in Network Program
1. WIN is tailored to women:
Research offers mounting evidence that women benefit from treatment
tailored to them, especially inventions aimed at family requirements and mental health issues (Grella, Joshi, & Hser, 2000).
2. WIN benefits from its connection with a
Community Corrections program:
Many of these women are the main providers of childcare, so WIN is less disruptive for those parents and their children.
Since most incarcerated women commit non-violent offenses “…that stem
from drug abuse and economic marginalization, women should be a
key focus for policymakers as they craft more humane and cost effective alternatives to incarceration” (para. 4).
WIN is “designed to enhance their ability to lead self-sufficient,
successful lives in the community” (Justice Strategies et al., 2004, Policies that Make a Difference, para. 4).
3. WIN addresses relapse prevention:
There is a critical need for relapse prevention
“addiction is a chronic relapsing disorder, thereby making the prevention of relapse one of the critical elements of effective treatment for alcohol and other drug (AOD) abuse” (SAMHSA, n.d.b, Chap. 9).
Factors contributing to relapse include
“inadequate skills to deal with social pressure to use substances;
frequent exposure to ‘high-risk situations’ that have led to drug or
alcohol use in the past; …inadequate skills to deal with interpersonal
conflict or negative emotions” (Chap. 9).
Rates of relapse: 54% of those in treatment for substance abuse will relapse, with 61% relapsing a number of times.
WIN participants will received the education and services which help
minimizes the chances of relapse, which are
“…education, confrontation of denial, brokering of community resources, and building support systems…” (Chap 9).
WIN addresses relapse prevention in the Treatment Group component of the program.
4. WIN emphasizes formation of community
connections:
Recent theories of women’s development suggest that women define themselves as selves-in-relation (Surrey, 1991).
A woman who finds herself isolated by drug abuse will be better able to heal
from her substance abuse with the support of others as she seeks a
healthier self-definition through the mutuality of relationships with other women, family, and community.
Making healthy connections is particularly important for these women because
they are likely to be rejected by their families, an especially difficult
situation in a cultural region where people in trouble normally turn to
their family for help (PD, personal communication, February 13, 2007;
Rural and Appalachian Youth and Families Consortium [RAYFC], 1996).
The WIN Program offers Treatment Groups and closed Women’s
Talking Circle offer participants in part as an opportunity for the WIN participants to connect with women who share many of the same struggles and are thereby uniquely able to provide support.
The WIN Program also offers an open Women’s Talking Circle to invite
female family members and close friends, creating a way to support
these relationships.
The WIN Program’s Community Quilting Program helps promote stabilizing, healthy friendships among and community support of the WIN mothers. It does this by involving them in a creative community activity that requires group work and which allows the participants to get to know and care for each other over time. Quilting is such an activity and has the additional benefit of being familiar to those living in this Appalachian region. A quilting project would be a great place for “…teaching… forming bonds with members of other generations, leaving a legacy, and contributing to the welfare of the broader community…,” all of which would help the WIN participants find stability and support within their community (Piercy & Cheek, 2004, p. 26).
5. WIN must help address the poverty factor
“Compared with both developed and transitional economies, the United States
has the highest poverty rate for female-headed household and the largest gender gap related to poverty” (Holtfreter, Reisig, & Moresh, 2004, p. 187).
The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act
[PRWORA] has resulted in a greater percentage of poor working, with women who no longer rely on welfare benefits being forced into “traditionally female occupations” that are unstable, without benefits, and pay so poorly that these women cannot lift themselves out of poverty (p. 188).
It is especially important to the WIN program that in Appalachia, the “median family income… in 1990 was 83% of the median U.S. family income” (RAYFC, 1996, p. 388).
Unemployment thus becomes a significant barrier that WIN will help its mothers address. This is particularly important because although most illegal drug users are employed either part time or full time, there is a significantly higher illicit use of drugs among the unemployed than the employed (17.1% versus 8.2% for those employed full time and 10.4% for those with part time employment) (SAMHSA, 2005).
Michigan State University research finds that the “economic marginalization” of women, along with reduced educational levels and inadequate job training, “…can promote involvement in an alcohol or drug-related, criminal lifestyle…" (Holtfreter et al., 2004, p. 188). Further, adding support to what has already been noted, such women tend to have reduced social networks that consequently provide insufficient emotional, financial, and social support. Finally, poverty contributes to recidivism for those who have gone through the correctional system (2004).
WIN will therefore have a Resource Center to tackle the difficul issues of education, job training and employment. WIN must also address a wide variety of additional issues.
Justice Strategies et al. offer a strategy for addressing reentry planning for women released from prison, which addresses a multitude of material, emotional, psychological and spiritual needs through the provision of information on community resources in each of these areas.
The WIN program agrees that one “…must not prioritize one or two dimensions (e.g., substance abuse treatment and/or employment) over other dimensions (e.g., housing needs, family reunification and/or problems of past sexual abuse) that, if left unaddressed, can lead to relapse and recidivism” (Policies That Make a Difference, para. 12).
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References:
Holtfreter, K., Reisig, M. D., & Morash, M. (2004). Poverty, state capital, and recidivism among women offenders. Criminology & Public Policy, 3(2), 185-208.
Justice Strategies, Greene, J., & Pranis, K. (2004). The punitiveness report, part I: Growth trends and recent research. Retrieved February 7, 2007, from
http://www.wpaonline.org/institute/hardhit/part1.htm
Grella, C. E., Joshi, V., & Hser, Y. (2000). Program variation in treatment outcomes among women in residential drug treatment. Evaluation Review, 24(4), 364-383
Piercy, K. W. & Cheek, C. (2004). Tending and befriending: The intertwined relationships of quilters. Journal of Women & Aging, 16(1/2), 17-33.
Rural and Appalachian Youth and Families Consortium. (1996). Parenting practices and interventions among marginalized families in Appalachia: Building on family strengths. Family Relations, 45, 387-396.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (n.d.b). Treatment for alcohol and other drug abuse: Opportunities for coordination. Retrieved February 17, 2007, from http://tie.samhsa.gov/Taps/ Tap11/tap11 chap9.html
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2005). 2005 national survey on drug use and health: National results. Retrieved March 2, 2007, from http://oas.samhsa.gov/NSDUH/2k5NSDUH/2k5results.htm#Ch7
Surrey, J. L. (1991). The self-in-relation: A theory of women’s development. In J. V. Jordan, A. G. Kaplan, J., B. Miller, I. P. Stiver, & J. L. Surrey (Eds.), Women’s growth in connection (pp. 51-66). New York, NY: Guilford.
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