Help Me Help You: Exploring Re-entry Programs for Incarcerated Women

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Patrie, Nicole M.

• Women face many challenges upon release from prison and entering different communities, referred to as re-entry. Community programs are available to support them while they negotiate the challenges. The purpose of this study is to understand the impact that these programs have on the re-entry process. Programs have incredible potential for being places where women connect with supportive relationships and maintain their ambition for success. Five currently incarcerated women shared their previous experiences of turning to re-entry programs to help with their struggles and self-development through the process. Additionally, two community programs lent their perceptions of the efficacy of re-entry programs. In this project I used a narrative approach as the means to listen to the meaning made through the women’s unique voices. Together, they shared struggles with addictions, relationships, environments, and basic needs. Our discussions often returned to the women’s visions of success and what they hoped to accomplish in their next re-entry. Out of these discussions, the women designed Help Me Help You, an ideal re-entry program.

• Date created

  2012

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Community development
  • Narratives
  • Re-entry
  • Incarceration
  • Women
  • Programs

• Type of Item

  Report

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3PC2T96G

• License

  Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 International