POWER helps women with recovery and the issues surrounding alcohol and other drug addictions. The organization was founded 17 years ago on the belief that treatment for addiction works—and that treatment geared to the specific needs of women works even better.
Before 1991 there were no halfway house facilities in Allegheny County specifically for women in recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs. In fact, while POWER founders Terry Miller and Mary Pat Donegan found 549 beds for men, they found only 12 beds for women, and those were in Butler County. POWER House, the residential program they founded with the help of then-state legislator Tom Murphy, remains the county’s only residential facility offering halfway house services exclusively to recovering women.
We believes that women do better in programs specifically for women because the issues they face in recovery are different from those faced by men. These include parenting, reproductive health, and trauma. Do you know that 80% of POWER House clients have experienced some form of trauma, which includes sexual abuse and domestic violence? That’s why many of the services at POWER are trauma-specific and are geared to treat the whole woman.
POWER’s approach to alcohol and other drug addictions has been so successful that it has grown to six programs including several levels of outpatient treatment as well as work with Children, Youth and Families, and in the Allegheny County Jail. Last year it helped 1200 women on their path to recovery.
If you would like more information about the programs and services offered by POWER, please visit out website at http://www.power-recovery.com/
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It is nice to see that there are residential treatment facility that last for so many years and still counting. This implies that there are more and more women that they help and straighten their life back. Keep on helping others and you’ll be bless back.
Thank you so much for your kind words about our work at POWER! Yes, I do believe our longevity is a testament to our success and, more importantly, to the success of the women who’ve used our services. As we often say at POWER, addiction has a ripple effect, devastating families and damaging communities – likewise, TREATING addiction also has a ripple effect: a positive one. By addressing untreated addiction, women are reunified with their families, become more productive citizens, and make countless other positive changes in themselves, their communities, and the world.
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