'Love Heals': Magdalene Fayetteville established to support sex trade victims

Magdalene Fayetteville established to help women

About five years ago, an Episcopalian man from another part of the state contacted the Rev. Lowell Grisham, rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Fayetteville. The man asked Grisham to take the Holy Eucharist to his daughter, who was serving a sentence at the Northwest Community Correction Center in Fayetteville, part of the state's prison system.

The next time Grisham traveled those two blocks from his church to the correction center, the woman brought her pod mate, who also received communion. The third time, there were even more supplicants.

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On a recent week, 413 inmates were served, Grisham reported. Other Episcopal priests and the Rev. Clint Schnekloth of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church share the duty.

"I really enjoy every Sunday," Grisham told a group gathered last month at his church. "It's a wonderful congregation. And they are better about coming to service than any Episcopalian I know.

"What we've learned is that most women (whom they have met) have suffered childhood abuse, usually sexually," Grisham said. "And most have addictive issues -- sometimes being exposed to it as a child.

"We've learned many of them don't have supportive or nurturing places to return when they are finished with their sentences," he continued.

When released, the women often return to their family and their former neighborhood and begin the cycle again.

"Some have overdosed, and we've buried some," Grisham said.

St. Paul's leaders and members want to help and are in the process of setting up a nonprofit program to help return to society women who have been the victims of human trafficking, prostitution and addiction. The program -- which will be independent in Fayetteville -- will follow a model of the Magdalene House started in Nashville, Tenn., by Becca Stephens, an Episcopal priest and survivor of child abuse. She spoke last month during the first fundraiser for a local house, Magdalene Fayetteville.

Unbroken Circle

Many women leave the state's correction centers with "a pocketful of nothing but good intentions," said Dina Tyler, deputy director of communications and public affairs for the Arkansas Department of Community Correction.

Most offenders want to go home, she said, and they can't even get there. The $100 they are given on release usually buys food, Tyler said.

"They don't have transportation to get to a job," she listed. "They don't have any clothes. They don't have any food. And, the reality is, after months and months, they've worn out their welcome with family or friends."

Tyler quoted one statistic: 42 percent of all offenders are back in the prison system in three years.

"Like male offenders, females have issues in finding employment," Tyler said. "But with women, there's a heightened sense of urgency because they are trying to put their family back together. Whether the kids are with their family or in the foster system, they want their kids back. So they have to create a stable home environment."

"Often, you lose weight or put on pounds in jail," said Regina Mullins, a graduated client of Magdalene Nashville, clean and sober for 19 years. "You can't wear what you came in with. But you need clothes, so you turn tricks for money, but you have to be high to turn tricks."

"It's very common that people trade their bodies for security," Grisham said. "(Offenders at the correction center) said they had to sell themselves under duress. They would sell themselves for some form of being secure and having their basic needs met."

Community of Healing

The Magdalene program emulates the Benedictine rules to living in a healthy community -- a community that is balanced, grounded and peaceful, Grisham explained. "Many monasteries follow it, as do many families and congregations and others who live in a community."

Stephens studied and developed her own version of spiritual principles and language to promote healing in a community.

Women chosen for the program live expense-free in a small group home of five to eight women for two years, at which point they can graduate.

"In such an intense, small community, there really is a reason to love others," Stephens said. Her focus is on love.

The Magdalene program provides housing and basic needs first, then focuses on recovery and sustainability. A woman's day includes intensive outpatient therapy for addictions as well as outside 12-step groups, explained Mullins, Magdalene's resident director. Additionally, women receive training in exercise, anger management, fashion and beauty, writing, gardening, spiritual survival and more.

Established residents also work for Thistle Farms, a company of women that makes bath products and paper from the thistle. Donations and the sale of products keep the Magdalene homes self-sufficient. The program receives no federal or state money, reported Stephens, and put a half-million dollars back into the hands of women last year.

Each afternoon, the 30 residents of the six Nashville houses come together for a two-hour meeting in which they discuss upcoming events, the schedule and any conflicts. Once a week, a woman's path through the recovery goals is evaluated.

"At every group meeting, at every check-in meeting, we light a candle to signify that we are the light," Mullins said. "We hope that we are a light for those who are still out there to find a home. And I love it, that in Fayetteville, they also made it for those who have left to find a way back home."

Graduates of the Magdalene program proclaim themselves "sisters for life," Mullins said. After graduation, many women return for visits, to volunteer or as role models. Some continue their employment with Thistle Farms. Many graduates return -- and are eligible for -- the support.

"Coming out of Magdalene, I was both scared and excited," Mullins said. "I was leaving the safety net. I was without the daily routine. The routine had changed."

She admitted she sometimes thinks about returning "to the life" when she goes through tough times.

"There are difficult times for everybody," Mullins said. "Problems come. But I'm not going to let anything like drugs and sex steal my spirit."

Safe at Home

"Over the 18 years that we have had homes for women coming out of prostitution, trafficking and addiction, we have never had a problem with neighbors feeling like our homes compromised their security," Marlei Olson, a public relations representative with Thistle Farms and Magdalene Nashville, wrote in an email.

Grisham points to that record to provide the Fayetteville community a sense of security for when Magdalene House opens there. "And we will have instant 24/7 response prepared for whatever may happen."

Tyler pointed out that the offenders in the Northwest Community Correction Center, from where Magdalene House residents might come, houses only offenders with no violent crimes on their records. Similar centers around the state focus on rehabilitation, providing the women opportunity to counseling and acquiring skills to help them in society. "We call it 'confined treatment,' with a work component," she said. "They have to do some work."

Women chosen for the Magdalene Fayetteville house will be selected after a structured process including applications, referrals and interviews, Grisham said.

"We will be following a model of discernment to invite a woman into the community," he assured. "We will choose people we know very well. We will choose women who have the capacity to bond in a community."

"We do try to become a part of the neighborhood and community, but our homes function as independent residences and are respected as such," Olson wrote. "We have strong guidelines and rules for our residents to support their sobriety and health. These also help the homes stay private and not a gathering place.

"Most of our homes are in neighborhoods with crime and drug challenges, but we have found that our presence has actually helped decrease the activity. When a strong commitment is made to creating a sanctuary, it enhances the neighborhood."

"In the 19 years that I've been here, we've never had anything crazy," Mullins said. "We haven't had a pimp come by trying to get his girls. We haven't had any break-ins. We haven't had any rumblings. We're a God-given program."

NAN Religion on 05/16/2015

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