Mission

A faith-based organization, Welcome Home helps women move from the correctional systems of San Diego County into productive lives in the community. Through Face to Face, women who have made that transition successfully offer peer support to others coming out, helping them break the cycle of addiction and incarceration, choose options for recovery, and find hope for the future. Welcome Home has two offices strategically located close to detention facilities.

Peer Mentors

Peer mentors in Face to Face provide supportive services to women in jail and, following release, in treatment facilities or other types of rehabilitation programs. The companionship of “women who have been there before” is the common thread in all contacts with the women served, whether in outreach visits in jail, letters to incarcerated women, or one-on-one contacts during and after treatment.

Instrumental Supports

In addition to providing emotional and/or spiritual support, peer leaders accompany the former inmates to court or to dental, eye, or medical appointments. Instrumental support is provided in the form of emergency food supplies or clothing, bus passes, hygiene items, and transportation.

Recovery Support Group

Face to Face conducts a weekly recovery support group for women. Women in the group explore relationships with family, friends, significant others, children, and other women in the program.

Employment and Housing Support

Peers receiving services from the Face to Face Program are helped to find employment and/or enrolled in adult education activities. Face to Face peer mentors also help women find safe housing in the community.

Dental and Vision Ministry

Welcome Home has organized a network of dentists supporting recovery who provide free or deeply discounted dental work for women enrolled in Face to Face. The local Lions Club also offers vision exams and eyeglasses at a fraction of the normal cost.

Pilot Program with Corrections Department

Previously, Welcome Home Ministries has only been able to work with women in local jails. In the fall of 2005, negotiations were completed with the California Department of Corrections for Face to Face to begin working with women in State institutions at the California Institution for Women (CIW) and Puerta La Cruz Conservation Camp. In addition, Face to Face is developing relationships with the CIW Chaplains’ Department and the Parole Planning Unit.

Leadership Development

Face to Face is developing formal peer-to-peer training and protocols to educate peer leaders in best practices for one-on-one peer counseling, effective goal setting, and other important peer support skills. Welcome Home also is writing several articles on peer services for publication in professional journals.