Women's Center Works to Lower Recidivism Rates With ‘Immersion in Sisterhood'

In Ann Arbor, Michigan, the program Sisters United Resilient and Empowered, also called SURE Moms, offers counseling to mothers in an effort to address their trauma, and thus have an effect on their entire families. With research showing the connection between home life and criminal behavior, SURE Moms gives women the opportunity to provide their children with emotional support by giving them that same emotional support. What started as an informal bible study group is now funded by the city and offers regular, twice per week classes.

Crossroads for Women, a New Mexico nonprofit, is helping formerly incarcerated women find community, support, and recovery. Using trauma-informed care practices, the program offers a comprehensive list of services like housing, mental health treatment, employment counseling, and substance abuse treatment. Underlying all services is the understanding that no individual is trauma free and that community and relationships are crucial to sustainable recovery.

In New Haven, a two-decades long experiment in giving community to and promoting empowerment for people who have been in the criminal justice system or mental health treatment services has shown a decrease in drug use and an increase in general quality of life. The idea - that people who have isolated/alienated by a system need to be empowered as citizens to successfully re-integrate - is taking hold in other cities, including Philadelphia.

In the United States, the incarcerated feel like they have no voices and their mistakes that led them to jail go unacknowledged. A documentary film spotlights the IF Project, a writing program that encourages female inmates and recently released felons to write down what they would have done to change the path they went on. With police and teachers as mentors, the convicted have support transitioning into society and can reflect on what they can do to change their lives for the better.

California, home to an unprecedented number of prison "lifers" who served decades since their teens and then were released under revised parole policies, created the Peer Reentry Navigation Network (PRNN) to have fellow former lifers coach and hold accountable the newly released. Now in 28 communities, PRNN has formed a community of peer mentors helping the formerly incarcerated remake their lives on the outside after lives of violence and trauma. The mentors' 24/7 help covers behavioral advice, job leads, and rebuilding family relationships. Despite some missteps, most mentees have stayed out of trouble.

The Fulton Community Supervision Center in Missouri provides trauma-informed, gender-specific care and services to women who face the risk of recidivism. Participants live at the center, where they receive services like cognitive behavioral therapy and classes that teach coping mechanisms and personal and professional development. Core to much of the programming is helping women find their self worth.

In Neukölln, a district in south-Berlin, nearly half of the residents come from migrant backgrounds and 85% of students don't speak German as their first language. To help integrate these population, early childhood - kindergarten, preschool, daycares, etc. - are vital. To encourage parents to enroll their children, the district hires and trains unemployed mothers with migrant backgrounds on a multitude of topics so those women can mentor others.

Mercy Hospice in Philadelphia is a recovery home that serves homeless women and their children. Their comprehensive approach provides addiction services, as well as mental health and trauma support; the home is seen as a "stepping stone to long-term recovery" and almost half of the women move on to independent housing when they leave the program.

The United States' incarcerated population makes up roughly 25% of the world's prisoners, but many are serving short terms and will be released back into society only to be asked to rebuild their life with little to no help or experiences gained during their time in prison. Groups like Sponsors - a program that takes formerly incarcerated adults into nature as part of a reintegration program - are working to change this re-entry process by using the outdoors as a place for former inmates to become reacquainted not just with the world, but also with themselves.

A Department of Justice study reported that about 75 percent of those released in 2005 were rearrested, and women prisoners often have a harder time re-entering society after release. A New Way of Life (ANWOL) is a Los Angeles transitional living facility that has helped more than 750 women stay out of prison by offering housing, case management, mental health and substance treatment, and job training.