Fueling Upward Mobility & Self-Sufficiency

The YWCA provides a highly structured three-phase residential program for homeless women in recovery from substance abuse. YES! (YWCA Embracing Sobriety) provides nearly 10,000 nights of safe shelter to clients each year. The typical client entering our YES! program is unemployed and without resources. She has very little contact with her family and has likely lost custody of her children due to her history of substance abuse. 

Our case managers immediately begin working with new clients to assess their needs and develop personal goals for them. Clients create an Individual Development Plan and review their progress with their case managers regularly. The overall goals for YES! clients are to embrace sobriety, maintain employment, and move into permanent housing upon completion of the program. 

During their time with us, clients are required to attend NA/AA meetings, meet with their sponsors, agree to random testing, obtain employment, and adhere to the guidelines of the program. The YWCA provides them with essentials such as food, clothing, personal care items, counseling, and recovery educational materials.

YWCA partners with Counseling for Change to offer dual assessment and group meetings on-site three days per week. Clients also attend our weekly “Healthy Relationships” interactive course where they gain knowledge of what green flags to look for when determining if a relationship is healthy or unhealthy. Participants learn to set healthy boundaries within all of their interpersonal relationships and ultimately complete the course feeling empowered to take control of their choices, bodies and lives. In addition, a weekly “Woman’s and Mother’s” group offers a flexible curriculum that focuses on the needs of its current participants.

Many of our YES! clients also have a history of domestic violence and choose to participate in our weekly “Choices” classes which are offered in collaboration with Albion Fellows Bacon Center at the YWCA for survivors of domestic violence. One on one victim advocacy and case management is also available if needed.