Curriculum for Addiction Professionals > Competency 4: Prevention > 6. Techniques to Engage Women Who Abuse Substances Into Treatment and Recovery
Competency 4: Prevention
Techniques to Engage Women Who Abuse Substances Into Treatment and Recovery
Women face many barriers in accessing treatment. The box below presents some of
these barriers.
Barriers for Women in Seeking Treatment
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Personal barriers (the woman’s feelings and life situation)
- Shame and guilt
- Denial of problem
- Fear of losing primary relationships, support, and security
- Overwhelmed by other personal issues (housing, violence) so that treatment is not
a priority
- Sole custody of children and fear of losing custody due to substance use
Interpersonal barriers (family, partner, peer relationships)
- Fear of losing children to partner or child welfare
- Lack of family or social support (denial, resistance to treatment)
- Tendency to be involved with partners who use substances themselves or hide the
woman’s substance abuse
Societal barriers (broader community and societal attitudes)
- Stigma attached to women who misuse substances
- Stigma attached to women who seek treatment
- Internalized stigma
- Greater pressure not to enter treatment
Program/structural barriers (treatment services and structure)
- Male-oriented identification and treatment models
- Lack of flexible services (time, duration, criteria for entry)
- Lack of a program, information, or strategies to effectively reach women who need
treatment
- Cost of treatment and costs associated with treatment (especially child care and
transportation)
- Lack of women-centered services
- Lack of low-cost reliable child care
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Source: Adapted from Currie, J.C. 2001. Best Practices Treatment and Rehabilitation for
Women with Substance Use Problems 
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Ottawa: Health Canada.
Addressing such barriers is important in engaging women geographical differences
in needs among women who abuse sustances. Techniques for enhancing access
to care include:
- Treatment approaches that respond to women’s needs
- Treatment approaches that reflect women’s realities
- Treatment services that are available to all women but are based on an individual
woman’s specific needs and circumstances
- Approaches that reflect ethnic, racial, cultural, linguistic, and geographical differences
in needs among women who abuse substances
Additional methods for engaging women into treatment include:
- Raising community awareness of substance use problems among women at risk and providing
information on available services.
- Enhancing the knowledge and skills of those in a position to identify, refer, and
support women with substance use problems to access treatment. These may include
community leaders, community peers, religious leaders or spiritual advisers, primary
care providers, and other service providers, such as mental health and child welfare.
- Improving treatment access through outreach, especially to underserved populations.