Today we’d like to introduce you to Regina Sanderson.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I have been in the probation service for 32 years. Over the last decade the number of women entering the judicial system as defendants was increasing at an unusually high rate. While meeting with the women for their supervision appointments, I identified a common thread from all. They felt isolated. They explained that when they made a decision to try to make positive changes in their lives by remaining sober, some in an attempt to regain custody of their children and others just to be free of substances, they had to cut themselves off from friends (who are still using drugs & alcohol), separate from significant others, and most often have no real family support. I felt that there was a clear need for programming for women, somewhere that they could network with other like-minded women, as this area is lacking.
I have always felt that people are like an entire package rather than individual as things like family, friends, school, their environment are areas that, not only impact the individual, but also how they respond to probation supervision and maintaining compliance and sobriety.
Most, if not all of the women I serve, have little to no self-esteem. Many have been victimized and suffered trauma through violence which has led to unaddressed mental illness and substance abuse. I needed to create a program that was multifaceted, enabling several areas of need to be addressed in a comfortable and safe environment.
The Womanhood Program at Eastern Hampshire District Court Probation is a hybrid approach to this programming and runs twice a year. The mission is to empower women, building self-esteem through both education and therapy, the program offers a two hour weekly class for eleven weeks. Subject matter includes fitness and nutrition, breast/cervical cancer, birth control and sexually transmitted diseases, self-defense, therapy through art, yoga, substance abuse, domestic violence, anger management, self-care with mindfulness and meditation. The final class enables the women to work together on a project that we present to the recipient at the graduation ceremony and has included a thank you quilt donated to the veterans and is displayed in the town’s showcase, handmade bracelets donated to Unify Against Bullying, and handmade knitted scarves presented to women veterans from the Soldier On program in Leeds.
The unspoken mission of the program is to encourage bonding through learning and sharing experiences and ideas which will provide a network of support for the participant’s future and also provides healing.
I have a unique view of this process unfolding in each semester of the program. Strangers upon entering, begin to speak to each other while pouring coffee or getting a snack, seat choices change, and the several small groups go out for the break as one large group. By graduation, calling, texting, and Facebook contact is happening between them.
As the creator of the program, the graduation ceremony was a very important event for me to plan. Many women I serve cannot commit to ten days, let alone commit to ten weeks given the personal barriers they face. It is a huge accomplishment and I wanted to ensure that each graduate felt acknowledged and celebrated. Graduation is formal, and is held at the Courthouse. It’s a ceremony that I describe as completing the circle as among the family, friends, court staff, and legislators, the police who have arrested them, the prosecutors who prosecuted them, the judges who sentenced them, probation officers who supervised them are all there to celebrate and support them. Each graduate receives a gift, provided by me. (Alex & Ani bracelet…The Path of Life) I chose this because it was something tangible that the women could wear always and when things were difficult, they could remember the commitment they made to making positive changes in their lives.
Personally, I am very fortunate. I have a beautiful, smart, and supportive family and I have told my husband on many occasions that I am compelled to run this program. I feel that I have everything…and then some and I need to pay it forward.
The current rate of women who have not come back through the Court system in the past four years is 79%. If the Womanhood Program played a small part in their decision to stay away from criminal activity, then I am honored to have played a part.
I continue to have contact with program alumni even after their probation ends, and it is important to point out that some of the participants over the four years have not been on probation or had any Court involvement. They heard about the program and felt they would benefit from the education.
Given some of the limitations in running the program through the probation department, I have decided to leave the probation service, start my own non-profit corporation, On the Track, and provide the program through my company. With the hope of being awarded grants, this will allow me to expand, not only the program itself, but also it will enable me to branch out to other areas and establish additional programs.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I had the full support of my presiding Justice the Honorable John Payne and my boss, Chief Probation Officer Robert Ryan. I was so fortunate that every professional I requested to volunteer their time to teach the classes, accepted immediately and the majority of instructors remain the same after seven semesters (four years). Money is always an issue. Funds are not provided in the Probation budget for programs such as these. Funding for class snacks and drinks has come from co-workers and family members. Materials, supplies for graduation (food, certificates, and gifts) have been financed by myself, family, donation from Zonta, and a onetime grant I received from the Trial Court’s Innovative Grant Fund.
Massachusetts Probation Service, Eastern Hampshire District Court Womanhood Program – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I am currently a Probation Officer for the Mass Probation Service. I have been in the business 32 years. I supervise adult men and women who are placed on probation and are allowed to remain in the community with conditions ordered by the Court. My role as an Officer is to enforce Court orders, such as referring and verifying treatment, drug testing, meeting with clients at intervals set by the standards of probation. In addition to the supervision, it is my duty to assisting and encouraging the probationer in making positive changes in their lives.
My specialty is the Womanhood Program that I have created for our jurisdiction in Hampshire County. It has become my passion, and as I stated, I will be separating from the probation service to provide this program through my own non-profit corporation, On the Track. The first semester of classes through my new company is set to begin at the end of August.
I think there are many things that set my creation apart from other programs. On the Track will begin by offering this gender specific program and I believe there is great value in this type of programming as women are more likely to open up and share when they are with other women, rather than a co-ed group. Although there is a place for co-ed groups, men and women not only experience things differently, come into the Court system as a result of different experiences. Even though the women in the program are defendants in the Court cases, many came into the system after suffering victimization time and time again.
I think another reason my program is unique, is that it seeks to approach Women’s issues in a hybrid fashion including both education and therapy in many different areas of a women’s life.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I have been extremely fortunate, through my program, to watch women effect change in their lives, however the greatest moment is when they contact me long after the program is over to update me with how they are doing. For example: One of the graduates called to say that she had just celebrated her 25th birthday and wanted to thank me because she hadn’t had a sober birthday since age 15. She initially began the program and suffered a relapse and was not able to graduate. When she was released from treatment, she asked for another opportunity to complete the program, and she did. Her message thanked me for giving her a second chance. Another young women I supervised contacted me early this spring. Her probation had been over for four years. We met for lunch where she told me that she had been in recovery for almost three years, was graduating from a local community college transferring to a four year college to obtain her bachelor’s degree in social work. She said she wanted to give others what I gave her, support and hope. She’s a Dean’s list student!
I have many other stories similar to these. Each is unique, and each makes me proud of who I am not only professionally, but individually.
Contact Info:
- Phone: 413 231 7631
- Email: regina.sanderson@jud.state.ma.us
Image Credit:
Sanderson congratulating a graduate at ceremony.
Women getting ready to do some journaling in therapy through art class,
Officer Glinicki (Ware Police Dept.) showing defensive moves in the self defense class,
Karen Miller, Victim Advocate, Northwestern District Attorneys Office discussing domestic violence, receiving line at graduation. LtoR Senator Anne Gobi, Representative John Velis, Representative Thomas Petrolati, Representative Ellen Story, Honorable John Payne, Chief Probation Officer of Eastern Hampshire District Court Robert Ryan, Halloween class on job search, resume writing, and interviewing with instructor,
Loretta Dansereau (third from the Right with costume of what not to wear to an interview) Sanderson is the good witch, graduates display the veteran’s quilt each of the girls worked on which was presented to VA representative, two participants quilting squares for the veteran’s quilt to be presented at graduation.
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