DEDICATED TO STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

An In-Depth Look at Tulsa’s Remarkable Women in Recovery Program

 

In the Spring of 2023, we watched an unusual graduation in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in
which 20 women who had previously faced the potential of long prison terms were
honored for completing a challenging and comprehensive Tulsa, Oklahoma
program called “Women in Recovery”.

With many years of drug addiction behind them, each of the graduating women
had completed a year to 18 months of difficult but transformative work in an
unusually comprehensive diversion program, which we described in a July 12
2023, Route Fifty column. But that article only contained a fraction of the
information we absorbed, as we heard the women’s stories and talked at length
with the many professionals who make the program work and the George Kaiser
Family Foundation, which provided funding to get Women in Recovery started.
During these conversations, we learned there had been nothing easy about
participating in this program, but lots of evidence that it works well.

As of October 2024, “Women In Recovery” has graduated 669 women. Not
everyone makes it through successfully, but for the 66% that graduate, the
recidivism rate is less than 3%. What’s more, the number of women from Tulsa
County sentenced to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections has declined by
72% from the program’s beginning in 2009.

There are now 148 women in the program, Drug or alcohol-addicted women who
face serious criminal charges are selected with court agreement. Participants
receive over 500 hours of clinical and therapeutic intervention, as well as in-depth
assistance on parenting skills, help with family reunification, education, and
employment training tied to in-demand Oklahoma occupations such as welding,
fiber optics, commercial driving and peer recovery support.

While the program is run out of Family & Children’s Services, a large Tulsa
nonprofit, its success relies on strong collaboration with governmental institutions
including the courts, the criminal justice system in Oklahoma, the city of Tulsa and
the state of Oklahoma. It’s a model that could be replicated in other communities.
 

In this special feature, we will be periodically introducing new Q&As with the women who work in and around the "Women in Recovery" program. This week's new Q&A is with Lani Burns, Director of Employment and Education for Women in Recovery. 

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At the bottom of her Q&A, you can find links to our previously published interviews with Mimi Tarrasch, chief program officer; Tulsa County District Court Judge Michelle Keely, and Rachel Delcour, criminal justice director for women justice programs at Family and Children's Services. The last two interviews with the women involved in this program will be posted at two week intervals on subsequent Thursdays in November.