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Over the last twenty years, women’s health activists have been challenging the medical model of women’s addiction which blames the individual and labels her as a “diseased”. As one author notes: Polydrug use is one manifestation of women feeling anxiety-ridden, fearful, angry, powerless and of woman’s unfulfilled desire to achieve full participation in a society that continues to promote cultural values that support their oppression (Susan Garceau, Stonehaven Associates, July, 1994).

Here’s to You Sister offers an alternative analysis of women’s use of addictive substances. Central to the analysis is an understanding of the impact of violence on women’s lives. This book rejects the notion that women must relinquish power in order to heal from addiction, and states very clearly that taking control over our lives is the prime vehicle of change.

Here’s to You Sister documents 15 years of groundbreaking work developing addiction services specifically for women.

This book is written by women activists for activists. It chronicles such organizational dilemmas as power, leadership and consensus. It is a valuable resource for understanding the needs of women struggling to overcome addictions; learning about the political context of women’ lives; for developing programs; and for promoting discussion of organizational change.

Here’s to You Sister is divided into five chapters:

Chapter One: A Feminist Approach to Addictions (the early years)
Chapter Two: Women Transforming Their Lives (a look at a feminist day program)
Chapter Three: Reaching Out to the Community (The development of health promotion and community relations programs)
Chapter Four: Integrating Feminist Values into an Organization (the challenges of learning to do it differently)
Chapter Five: Towards the Future (things yet to be done)

Here’s to You Sister is recommended reading for anyone concerned about women, social justice, addictions or organizational change. To order your copy, fill in the order form and fax it to us.

Women Juggling Roles

This twelve-week lifestyles program was developed to address the needs of a large population of women, who may be a risk of using substances to cope with many complex issues in their lives:

poverty
violence
lack of social support systems
too much responsibility.

Its fundamental goal is to encourage women to create healthy lifestyle changes, through helping them take control of their lives. The following are the topics that the groups work on:

Family dynamics in addictions
Self-esteem
Stress management
Anger and depression
Relationships and trust
Living with teens
Handling conflict
Violence against women
Assertion
Drugs and alcohol
Grief and loss
Parenting teens
Healthy eating/finances
Handling difficult people
Rights with Children’s Aid
Legal rights
Living alone successfully
Women and AIDS

Series of Six Workshops

Based on the same concept and rationale as the Women Juggling Roles program, the Series of Six Workshops allow for more focused sessions using half the overall time.

Self-Esteem (2 workshops): experience and discover methods of raising one’s self-esteem
Stress Management ( 2 workshops): identify and learn how to manage stress and stressors
Assertiveness (2 workshops): learn how to be assertive without being aggressive

Based on the same concept as the Women Juggling Roles Program, the 8-week course on Assertiveness Training goes into depth on the skills and techniques of Assertiveness:

What is assertiveness
listening techniques
sending messages effectively
saying NO without guilt
making requests/dealing with criticism
broken record: how to be persistent
road blocks and assertive rights
verbal and non-verbal communication

Self-Esteem

This new program was offered for the first time in the fall of 1997. The objectives over the six weeks are to define self-esteem, explore how important it is and identify techniques to develop a better sense of self.

defining self-esteem
who are we
building self-worth
positive thinking/attitude
shoulds
factors influencing self-esteem
roots of self-esteem
setting priorities

Women Juggling Roles is recommended reading for anyone concerned about women. To order your copy, fill in the order form and fax it to us.