The AKOMA women’s program provides cultural and gender-specific pre-treatment and recovery support services to female consumers who are addicted and drug dependent residing in the greater Cleveland community.  

 

Primary service strategies include the following 1) conducting recovery-focused community education and community outreach; 2) providing facilitation of recovery support groups; 3) creating opportunity for social interactions between addicted/newly recovering females and the recovery community of women; and 4) developing a structured, yet informal environment for women suffering from addiction that offers all women unconditional supports that provides them safety and humanity until their need to go to treatment services is a self-realization.

 

The women’s recovery support groups provide a safe place for women to come together and focus on developing healthy self-esteem.  Any woman working on getting sober and staying sober is welcome.

 

The groups are lead by women with long-time recovery and women who support recovery. Groups facilitated by women in long-time recovery help provide a real-life experience to the meetings, providing a significant degree of empathy and support for group participants.

 

The women’s recovery support group provides a secure, non-judgmental place for verbalizing powerful emotions and conveying personal experiences that help to support recovery;  coping skills that enable participants to manage their recovery; and mutual emotional support and encouragement to look after ones-self.

 

 

 Program Strategies

 

A primary service strategy  is to increase female’s awareness regarding alcohol and other drugs: to inform women about drugs and their potential dangers, to help women understand and identify signs and symptoms misuse, abuse and addiction, to inform women of the available resources, to make women aware of the services that available at re-entry to the community. Outreach worker disseminates printed information throughout the community via street outreach, displays at health and information fairs etc.  Project staff  provides women with assistance to getting onto the continuum of services, and assist them in their reentry back into the community.

 

The project provides prevention services to young females, who are the children of parents who are incarcerated and/or in treatment.  Special focus is placed on those girls who are in out-of home placements (e.g., foster care, kinship care, and residential placements).

 

 

Reentry service strategy is to provide AOD supportive services to women transitioning from treatment and/or prison.  The primary focus will be help women with drug abuse/addiction histories avoid relapse traps, by learning how to navigate systems to get the resources needed to sustain sober and productive reentry.  To help women without drug abuse/addiction history avoid developing these condition utilizing secondary prevention strategies and assisting them learn how to navigate the systems to meet their needs.  The staff will deploy a variety of activities and services to include education and awareness, housing and employment assistance, family reunification strategies, assistance with securing basic personal items (i.e., hair products, personal hygiene products, clothing etc.), food and other necessities.