Programs, Mental Health, Medical & Education - Oklahoma ...

2002). The new curricula were chosen
because they addressed root causes of
substance abuse and trauma specific to
women involved in the criminal justice
system. The materials were introduced
and pilot tested (through statistical
and focus group methods) at Dr. Eddie
Warrior Correctional Center in 2006
and found to fit the need and problem
areas specific to female offenders.
The curricula, group and individual
therapeutic counseling services addressed
substance abuse, trauma and mental
health issues to high risk female offenders
and were provided through a generous
grant from the George Kaiser Family
Foundation. Program goals included:
1) to provide a gender-specific treatment
program for women who abused alcohol
and other drugs, 2) to provide an
integrated treatment of substance abuse
trauma and recovery, and 3) reduce
recidivism through substance abuse
treatment and the practice of pro social
behavior.
Program Implementation
To implement the Helping Women
and Beyond Trauma treatment program
systematic assessment tools were useful
to select high risk participants. In
addition, licensed therapists who were
Helping Women Recover - Treatment and Rehabilitative Services
...includes domestic violence and relapse prevention
interventions and participants receive 11 hours of group
treatment each week for four months and up to six
individual therapy sessions
experienced with and also licensed in
alcohol and drug counseling were hired
to be positive role models and to conduct
group and individual therapeutic
services for participants. Therapists were
also eager to provide a strength-based
model of treatment delivery focusing on
skill acquisition rather than symptom
management and acknowledged the
importance of what happened to the
female offender rather than what
was wrong with her. The Stephanie
Covington manualized curricula and
facilitator guides were studied to learn
how to best conduct the intervention
services and staff training was provided.
Dr. Covington provided consultation as
therapists progressed through the written
material and she eagerly answered our
questions. Program policy was followed,
and fidelity checklists were developed
to be certain that program design was
faithful to curriculum theory. And,
of course like all other new knowledge
paths, many new lessons were learned.
One such lesson was the realization that
Department of Correction’s substance
abuse treatment programs had to be
certified through an audit conducted
by the University of Cincinnati known
as the Community Programs Checklist
(CPC). The CPC is used to assess how
closely correctional programs meet the
known concepts of effective intervention
(Latessa, 2006). Another lesson learned
was that higher CPC scores had a direct
relationship to lower levels of recidivism.
And thirdly, our substance abuse and
trauma interventions needed to be
augmented with additional curriculum
and provide a minimum of nine treatment
hours each week for a minimum of
four months. Determining additional
curriculum meant seeking the advice of
subject matter experts, speaking to the
women in treatment about their needs
for sobriety, and discovering additional
assessment instruments to determine
treatment intensity. A quality assurance
plan was developed and implemented
that addressed the following concepts:
program planning, offender recruitment
and engagement and an evaluative
process that measured intermediate and
long term objectives.
Current Status
Today, Helping Women Recover: A
Program for Treating Substance Abuse
and Beyond Trauma: A Healing Journey
for Women is conducted at Dr. Eddie
Warrior Correctional and Mabel Bassett
Correctional Centers. Both are approved
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