March 2011    
TopGreetings!

If you are a regular reader of our blog, Women and Substance Abuse, you may have noticed that it is now in a new location. We have moved our blog to a new address - www.crossroadsforwomen.org/blog - so that we can provide you even more info on addiction, treatment and recovery for women and their families and better incorporate it with our website. This month, we share a couple articles from our blog. We hope you will visit our blog, if you haven't already!

Legislative Update: We have received so much support after sending out our last email. Thank you all who have contacted your legislators and / or written letters to your local papers to tell them why eliminating residential substance abuse treatment is a bad idea. We have been in close contact with legislators and attended a meeting with DHHS Commissioner Mary Mayhew about our situation. While we are certainly not out of the woods yet, we do see a bit of positive at the end of this. We will continue to post information on our Facebook page.
articleoneWomen, Addiction & Prison: An Interview with Dr. Stephanie Covington

Stephanie Covington, Ph.D., author of Hazelden Publishing books, A Woman's Way Through The Twelve Steps, Women and Addiction: A Gender-Responsive Approach and Beyond Trauma, is currently being featured in the new OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network docu-series, "Breaking Down the Bars," which premiered on Tuesday, February 15. The original seven-episode series follows the journey women prisoners take in an attempt to rebuild their lives, exploring the dramatic transformation of a group of female prisoners during their time at the Rockville Correctional Facility in Indiana.

Crossroads for Women's clinical director and communications specialist had the opportunity to interview Dr. Covington about women, addiction and prison, and issues relating to gender-specific addiction treatment for this blog. Following are a few things we learned from our conversation with Dr. Covington.

Working with women with addiction and trauma issues

Dr. Covington first points out that when you are talking about women and addiction, there's typically trauma involved as well. Read the full story

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articletwoCooking Matters at the Halfway House
Cooking Matters logoStarted in 1993 by Share Our Strength, a national organization dedicated to ending childhood hunger in America, Cooking Matters provides low-income people at risk of hunger with hands-on cooking and nutrition classes led by volunteer professional chefs and nutritionists.

According to Kristen Miale, the program director for Cooking Matters for Maine, the Cooking Matters program is built on the concept that people in America aren't hungry because there is not enough food, but because they lack access to nutritious food and programs that provide the assistance they need. Here in Maine, the Good Shephard Food Bank is the local partner for Cooking Matters.

Recently, Kristen and her volunteers visited Crossroads for Women's halfway house to conduct the 6-week Cooking Matters course with our clients. Over the six weeks, the women learned much more than how to cook a meal. While about 60% of the program was cooking, the other 40% was dedicated to nutrition education.

Led by volunteers Chef Tony and Raye, the women learned about food groups, were taught knife skills, and talked about what to look for in the ingredients list when buying food...Read the full story

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Sincerely,
Jennifer Barbour
 
Jennifer Barbour, communications specialist
Crossroads for Women
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Crossroads for Women addresses substance abuse and mental health so that women and their families can live healthy lives. FMI, call 207.773.9931 or visit our website.

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In This Issue

Women, Addiction & Prison: An Interview with Dr. Stephanie Covington

Cooking Matters at the Halfway House

Outpatient Therapy Groups

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Professional Women's Recovery Group
Wednesdays, 5:30pm - 7pm

Friends and Family Group

Mondays, 5pm - 6:30pm

Kennebunk  
Holistic Approaches to Managing Anxiety & Stress
Mondays, 3/21/11 - 4/25/11, 4pm - 5:30pm

The Aftercare Group (TAG)
Tuesdays, 1pm - 2:30pm  

Managing Chronic Pain
Thursdays, 3/17/11 - 5/5/11, 2pm - 3:30pm

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Friends and Family Group
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The Aftercare Group (TAG)
Wednesdays, 6 - 7:30pm 

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Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)
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From Our Blog
Women & Substance Abuse blog

Crossroads Needs Your Help

We don't normally send emails like this, but we need your help.

 

On Friday, Crossroads for Women received the recommendations that the Office of Substance Abuse (OSA), a division of DHHS, is forced to make in an attempt to keep treatment available in our state. These recommendations essentially dismantle Maine's substance abuse treatment system as we know it...

 Read More  

 
Oh, the Places You'll Go...in Recovery

Following is an excerpt from "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" in honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday today. This book was the last written by the famed author in 1990.

 

Though a children's author, Dr. Seuss certainly inspires in this book about life and its challenges. Reading the first few pages, it sounds a lot like the road to recovery!

 

"Congratulations!

Today is your day...Read More