FOCUS on Women: Probation and Women’s Initiative Supporting Health Partnership Improves Legal and Medical Outcomes

• In Event: Gender and Reentry

Abstract

Female Offenders Can Ultimately Succeed (FOCUS) is directed by a county probation department, informed by the Women’s Initiative Supporting Health (WISH) Program. WISH partnered with probation to leverage motivational and trauma-specific strategies with high-risk women to improve healthcare delivery as a means to decrease recidivism. This presentation includes descriptive methodology, which details how to design, implement, and test such strategies. Efforts were two-tiered. For the probation officers, the project offered gender-specific training in motivational, trauma-specific, and cognitive behavioral strategies for clients. For the clients, they received prompt referrals to a specialized, established medical program (WISH) for reentering women. WISH informed the gender-specific, trauma-specific, motivational strategies for probation officers, based on earlier work implemented by medical providers. WISH includes peer community health workers and in-reach to jails to link women to multi-faceted treatment. FOCUS results (n=150) reflect clients experienced reduced probation violations, arrests, and days in jail. These legal outcomes coincide with increased engagement in all aspects of medical care. This presentation lays the foundation for other communities to introduce an innovative probation-medical cross-systems collaboration to meet the needs of our most vulnerable clients, improving their legal and medical outcomes, with the ultimate goal of improving quality of life.

Authors

• Diane Morse, University of Rochester

• Catherine Cerulli, University of Rochester