PROGRAM DETAILS

The extensive program services and activities of Magdalene KC involve four phases:

 

• RECOVERY: For recovery to begin, survivors of prostitution must be free from any and all external expectations for meeting the demands of a victimizer or for providing their own means of survival. They need to receive the unconditional love, nurture, and care most of them have not experienced, even in childhood.  Furthermore, therapeutic case management for the women will identify needs and coordinate:

  • physical health services (to restore their beaten and broken bodies, including acute and reconstructive dental work),

  • addiction recovery services, and

  • intensive trauma recovery and other mental health services to begin healing from the effects of childhood sexual abuse, repeated rape and other violence, starvation, homelessness, and/or emotional and psychological abuse.

Magdalene KC partners with an established community network of low-cost or volunteer health care providers and safety net programs for these services.

 

• RENEWAL: After the introductory recovery period, the Magdalene KC program requires that the participants begin furthering their education. This is done by completing GED courses and/or taking community college courses or vocational training programs through community partners. Magdalene KC offers additional renewal opportunities such as tutoring, group, art and/or music therapy, and classes on health and wellness (e.g., nutrition, fitness and yoga), gardening, creative writing, and financial literacy. Additionally, pro-bono legal representation as well as training on basic life skills, such as housekeeping and managing personal finances, are part of this phase of the program.
   

• GROWTH: Magdalene KC next requires participants to begin working at a level commensurate with their recovery and renewal. Ultimately, the program will include a cottage industry for employment opportunities within the Magdalene KC umbrella to provide paid vocational training, job placement, and full and part-time management level employment. Prior to that initiative, other sources of employment opportunities include partnerships with specialized employers in the metropolitan area, focusing on giving underprivileged persons an equal and meaningful employment opportunity. During this time, the women are still not required to pay for their housing so they can save their earnings. Through matched saving opportunities, these women can build assets to meaningfully jump-start their financial independence upon graduation from the program.
   

• THRIVE: Our goal is for the women, upon their graduation, to have secured low-cost housing and permanent employment. At all times, however, support groups will be available as the graduates encounter the challenges of their new life of independence. Further, graduates will be encouraged to give back to their community through volunteering at Magdalene KC and supporting the next generation of participants.

 

EVIDENCE-BASED PROGRAM

Magdalene KC is modeled after the very successful Magdalene program in Nashville, TN. Over the last eight years, 68 women have successfully completed their two-year program. Forty-five women are still in recovery, working and/or receiving disability income and living in safe or permanent housing. The Nashville program reports that the cost of housing, treatment, and vocational training at Magdalene is approximately $56 per diem; by comparison, the cost per diem for incarceration at both county and state correctional facilities in Tennessee is $85 - $90.