History

Founded in 1996, Welcome Home Ministries (WHM) has provided support to over 600 women per year who released from jail or prison into San Diego County communities. The women we serve, released from incarceration for alcohol, drug and other offenses, usually have few resources, if any when released. They need support from the community to maintain their recovery and their emerging drug and alcohol free lifestyle. Welcome Home not only picks the women up as they are released from local correctional facilities, but are there to offer support and services as well. Welcome Home believes that each woman should be enrolled in a recovery program upon release, in order to address the lifestyle changes that must be confronted to make a successful transition back into the community. The combination of recovery programs, peer services, and early intervention have proven to be effective in assisting the women through the change process. To date, over 90 percent of the women we have served have been able to sustain their recovery and avoid additional offenses requiring a return to jail or prison. Welcome Home has helped these women go to college, embark on careers in both drug and alcohol counseling and nursing and reunite with their families. Welcome Home provides a healthy supportive environment, within which women, who had never made healthy choices for themselves, now assist other women getting out of jail or prison in making healthier decisions for their lives.