Did you know that addiction, incarceration, and abuse are often generational patterns? Women in Transition is a small group mentor program for women who have faced these issues and are ready to break the cycle.
These women usually have very few safe, healthy relationships. Their childhoods were unstable (at best) and abusive (at worst). They have often grown into mothers whose own children are now facing the same challenges. They have usually encountered the criminal justice system, but not found the motivation or skills they would need to change their lives.
These are the people we serve through Women in Transition. We start with our Women in Transition course inside prisons, jails, and transitional living facilities. The class is taught by formerly incarcerated women and provides the education and hope that women need to create a different life. Post-incarceration, women are matched with Stand in the Gap small groups of volunteers who walk alongside them as they pursue real freedom.
So far this year, we have already celebrated new chapters with these women. Remember our first ReMerge graduates and this restored family?
But it’s no secret that Oklahoma has long led the nation in incarceration. So for every great moment we celebrate, there’s a reminder that there’s so much more to do.
Women in Transition small groups of mentors spend 3-4 hours a month as a small group. They eat dinner, practice for driver’s license tests, discuss job opportunities, pray, hold babies, and do life together.
Over the years, we’ve seen addicts become sober, healthy mothers. We’ve seen course graduates become course instructors. We’ve witnessed women as they encounter God through deep, personal relationships with other people.
In 2020, Women in Transition served 69 women in small groups. 1,123 women took our Women in Transition course. And 28 children were reunited with their safe, sober, healthy mothers. This is what it looks like to stop the cycle.
