Posted: Monday, September 16, 2013

In a ceremony today, The Providence Center will open the state’s third Anchor Recovery Community Center, and the first center within the state’s Adult Correctional Institution. The newest center is located in the existing

Women’s Facility and is designed to provide female inmates with a network of resources, relationships and community ties that will help them to maintain their recovery once they re-enter their communities. The center was developed through a partnership with the Department of Corrections and The Providence Center in order to provide women who have received treatment for substance abuse disorders during their prison stay with a strong support community both while in prison and when they return to their communities.

“This is an important milestone for the DOC,” said Ashbel T. Wall, DOC Director. “The establishment of this recovery center is about empowerment, responsibility and leadership by example.”

Anchor Recovery Drydock provides women at the ACI with a place to meet within the existing facility and hold support groups, recovery coaches—people with lived experience who provide advice, support and friendship—and the opportunity to become a recovery coach themselves through a 30 hour training. Women at Drydock are also connected to the services they need to maintain their recovery once they re-enter their communities and are introduced to members and staff from the other two Anchor Recovery Community Centers in order to facilitate continued participation upon release.

“Anchor Recovery Drydock is built around The Providence Center’s broader philosophy that people in recovery from substance abuse problems are more likely to succeed if they are not alone,” said Dale K. Klatzker, Ph.D., Providence Center President/CEO. “We have found that a community of people in recovery, who share experiences and goals, is a powerful tool for maintaining abstinence and building a better life. We believe that women who are incarcerated in our state deserve the opportunity to access that community.”