The Human Side Of Meth

The following series of articles were kindly contributed by Judy Murphy - the original co-founder and co-facilitator of a group called “Moms Off Meth.” Judy is now also a methamphetamine specialist with the DHS in Ottumwa, Iowa. If you would like to contact Judy please email Erin at: Erin(at)allpositiveoptions(dot com)

This first piece is about how Moms Off Meth was actually formed, and Judy details for us the learning process she herself had to go through to make it work, as well and how to make it relevant and effective for the women participating. As you will see, because of her pioneering work, Judy has given us a blueprint for starting such a group, detailing for us not only what she did right, but the mistakes made along the way and what she learned from those mistakes. We are sincerely grateful for her input and proud to present it on our site.

The original idea for the Moms off Meth Support Group came from a community meeting based in Ottumwa, Iowa. This meeting was attended by various providers in the Ottumwa area who were concerned about the number of children testing positive for exposure to drugs. A large number of women were losing their children due to their addiction to meth. Providers from this group included: Family Recovery Center treatment staff/director, Child Health Specialty Clinic, Area Education Agency, SIEDA Drug and Alcohol, Ottumwa Regional Health Center, Department of Human Services, Southern Iowa Mental Health, Public Health, County Attorney’s Office, Crisis Center and Women’s Shelter, plus other agencies.

At that time I was an advocate for battered women at the Crisis Center and Women’s Shelter Outreach Office. Part of my job duty was to attend community meetings and to provide education/awareness of battered women’s issues. Following one of these meetings, one of the supervisors of DHS met with my director and I to see if the Crisis Center could develop a support group for women who were addicted to meth. The basis of this collaboration was the idea that many of these women had victimization issues in their past.

Many social workers and child protective workers were overwhelmed with the time and energy it took to help the women addicts, as they would call many times requesting information or asking about appointments. The women were frustrated that they didn’t get the time and attention that they needed from their social worker/child protective worker. High caseloads inhibited the social workers from being able to spend very much time with the women. And because these women were early in recovery and their minds weren't yet tracking well, they frequently forgot dates and times of appointments.

One of the first things we did as a group was find someone to help fund some appointment books for the women. This proved to be an invaluable tool and the women used them extensively. Another tool that was used was to find money to buy journals and daily meditations for women in recovery.

I began to work on some ideas for what I felt the group could be comprised of, as well as how and when we would meet. I did put together a folder of proposed ideas/topics for the group that pertained to women’s issues. This was also to ensure that there would always be a topic and we wouldn’t spend the time without a specific purpose. The first idea was to develop separate support groups for women who had lost their children and ones who hadn’t lost them yet. Our concern was that the women who had lost their children would be frustrated about the women who still had their kids. The first group met on July 9, 1999 and was attended by four women who were referred to the group by their social workers.

The first group session was spent getting to know each other and asking for ideas/suggestions on what the women wanted to happen in the group and what rules they would like to be used in the group. We felt that the women needed to feel ownership of the group and have one place where what they talked about was safe, not in a report (unless requested by the woman), and confidential. There were some rules that were discussed as being absolutes in the group: confidentiality, no racist, homophobic, or sexist comments, no violence, and respect was essential if the group was to function in a healthy manner.

We also advised them that our goal would be to empower them with educational presentations about domestic violence, sexual abuse, racism, sexism, juvenile court system, DHS system, etc. Again, we stressed that this would be their group and that our job would be to facilitate until they were ready to do so. They decided at that meeting that they saw no need to separate the groups and wanted everyone to meet together.

Interestingly enough, the women took great pride in being called the "Moms Off Meth" group and identifying that they were members. However, they did not like to be classified as “battered” women and were very vocal in owning responsibility for their relationships. Some of the women stated that they were equally as aggressive during relationships as their partners and as a result, they were not afraid of their partners. Education about battered women’s issues is an integral part of the group. There were also women in the group who were severely battered and we took great pains to ensure that these women didn’t feel ashamed of their fear and felt safe discussing what they went through.