Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 32, Number 8, 1 August 2015 — What about the women? [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

What about the women?

/ / 1 A # ithout this program, \ /\ / I know where I'd be, \ / \ / I'd be on \/ \/ the streets;

V V no job, no money, no home. Hustling just to stay alive." This would be the plight for countless women, who through long and painful histories of trauma, poverty, addiction and abuse found themselves involved in Hawai'i's criminal justice system. Onee there, for the most part, they were treated the same as incarcerated men. In a criminal justice system dominated by approaches set

up tor men, 1J Mahoney & Associates, a nonprofit organization, has intentionally and deliberately created Ka Hale Ho'āla Hou No Nā Wāhine, (the home of reawakening for women), a residential re-entry program for women exiting prison. The program is both gender responsive and trauma informed. What does that mean? Being gender responsive means we take into account the realities of women's lives. Incarcerated women are not men; they have unique "pathways" into the system, unique needs, and to be effective, we must create approaches and services that are designed specifically for women. Being trauma informed means we understand that incarcerated women typically have histories of exposure to violence, abuse, neglect, poverty, addiction and a laek of resources to deal with the overwhelming nature of these experiences. Trauma literally affects brain formation and impacts decision-making processes. The good news is, our brains ean be "rewired"; in a traumainformed environment, new patterns ean be learned and healing ean occur. Women ean transform their lives. Sadly, Native Hawaiians are highly over represented in the criminal justice system. To address this, we create an environment of 'ohana where eaeh woman gains a sense of belonging. She ean (and is expected to) contribute and be part of something beyond herself. We nurture her gifts and talents and in turn, she grows stronger through the cultivation of her strengths and abilities.

We know that incarceration is intergenerational; to save the children, to prevent them from becoming the next generation of inmates, we must help and

heal the mothers. The vast majority of women in our program are mothers. Family reunification is an important principal in our setting. We understand that change is a process, not an event, and that it happens over time; that change is a personal journey; it is individual and not a one-size-fits-all endeavor. We nurture positive change through a structured environment that emphasizes

responsibihty and accountabihty as well as creativity and growth. Women learn through experience and are helped in overcoming obstacles, facing challenges and moving forward toward self-defined goals. They are required to find jobs, learn to budget and manage their finances, they learn computer skills, do chores and perform community service. These are the foundations of our program; factors whieh have enabled 82 percent of program graduates to stay out of prison beyond the two-year mark (a recognized benchmark for successful community reintegration). These statistics are in keeping with the best outcomes nationally and are a reflection of the effectiveness of our approach. We have worked hard over the past 23 years to design, modify and hone a program, whieh has received nahonal recognition as a leader in its field. Ka Hale Ho'āla Hou No Nā Wāhine is now in its own transition; the program is moving on! TJ Mahoney & Associates has done its part in launching and setting the course for this successful journey. The YWCA of O'ahu, whose mission is "empowering women and eliminating racism" has picked up the torch and is now moving the program forward. Stay tuned for the next (and exciting) installment where you will learn where the program is headed, due to diligence, tenacity, courage and unwavering belief in the ladies by Lorraine Robinson and the YWCA. ■

Haunani Apnlinna, MSW TrustEE, At-largE