A New Dawn: Launch of the Global Women’s Network for Treatment and Recovery

Did you ever imagine that there would a forum for empowering providers of women substance use treatment and recovery? Thank you to Dr. Hendrée E. Jones and her team for officially launching the Global Women’s Network for Providers of Women’s Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery.

On June 27, 2024 a day after the World Drugs Day and launch of the World Drug Report 2024, the Global Women’s Network for Treatment and Recovery was launched. This was during the recently concluded ISSUP Conference held in Thessaloniki Greece from June 24th to 28th ,2024.

I have had the privilege to be trained and train on the Children Intervention for Living Drug Free (CHILD) Curriculum- Course 1-6 and participated in the piloting of Course 7 and this is where I met Dr. Hendrée E. Jones. In one of the sessions, she mentioned that she has established the Global Women’s Network for Providers of Women’s Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery.

A quick glance at the World Drug Report, 2024 confirms this vulnerability - only 1 in 11 women are in treatment and only one in 18 women with drug use disorders are in treatment. Having been in the drug demand reduction field for over a decade, crystal clear that women around the world who use drugs face challenges that increase their vulnerability to gender-based violence, economic discrimination, human rights violations, physical and mental comorbidities, high rates of incarceration, and intense stigma. With this in mind, I was interested to know more about the global network.

Let us set the record straight- this is not a forum for women only but a global forum for all providers of women’s substance use disorder treatment and recovery. From the website www.globalwn.org , it a  community of like-minded, supportive individuals who are committed to improving women’s treatment and recovery outcomes. The website goes further to answer the question why a global women’s network? Thousands of women today are suffering from untreated substance use disorders because of:

• Cultural and social barriers prevent their accessing treatment;
• Many treatment programs serving women do not meet their unique clinical needs; and
• There is a shortage of trained providers to meet the needs of women with SUD.

Next question: What do you get from joining GWN? Apart from creating a network provider /practitioners in the drug demand reduction field, you get to connect with:

1. A global empowering and educational platform
2. Global data on women’s issues
3. A virtual community forum that want to hear from you
4. Tools/resources for use at treatment and recovery centers
5. Latest research and global collaboration
6. A Practical Knowledge Program (PKP)
7. Customized Technical Assistance

Allow me to highlight the last two items above:

Practical Knowledge Program (PKP)

Each Month we gather as a virtual community and share our experience, strength, and practical knowledge with one another on how to provide quality services to support women’s SUD treatment and recovery. Our monthly events are interactive, offering hands-on tips that can be applied in your particular setting right away.

Customized Technical Assistance

This is a process of providing specific knowledge, guidance, and to help an organization with a development need or problem. It involves communication between a specialist with the organization. It is systematic, targeted, adaptive, customized and results driven. If this speaks to you follow this link https://www.globalwn.org/node/24786

Final question: How do you become a member? Simple. Follow this link: https://www.globalwn.org/node/25507 and become a member  striving to forge ahead in paving the way for others to raise standards of, accessibility to and quality of women’s treatment and recovery programming.