Message from the Director

I am proud to announce the newly established Office of Women’s and Perinatal Services, an expansion of the Office of Perinatal Substance Abuse (OPSA). This indicates the beginning of many enhancements to improve alcohol and other drug (AOD) services for women of all ages, their children, and their families.

OPSA was created in 1990 to address the pervasive issue of perinatal substance abuse. Since then, we established more than 300 programs that resulted in improved outcomes for pregnant and parenting women. All of these programs are required to provide comprehensive, gender-responsive services.

But I know that all women, not just pregnant and parenting women, need access to comprehensive, gender-responsive services. There is a substantial body of research on effective practices for helping women with substance use problems. All women need these comprehensive, evidence-based programs. When I worked in the field it would break my heart each time I had to turn away a woman because she did not qualify as a “perinatal” client. All women seeking services deserve to have the kind of gender-responsive, trauma-informed services that the best perinatal programs have been providing for years.

My vision is that every woman in need of AOD services in California will have access to the services she needs. Comprehensive services for women must be participant/client-centered, strength-based and age-appropriate. For example, women’s treatment services should be trauma-informed, recovery-oriented, and address the relapse risks unique to women. Currently, many women drop out of treatment in the first 30 days. I intend to work with stakeholders to identify barriers to treatment success, improve treatment retention rates and outcomes in our system of services.

My commitment to support this effort is to increase communication and information dissemination on best practices and research on women-specific issues and provide training and technical assistance to programs with nationally recognized experts in the field. Dr. Stephanie Covington, who has a worldwide reputation in the field of gender-responsive, trauma-informed services, is one of the expert consultants for the Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs (ADP) who is providing training and technical assistance. ADP is also providing expert training and consultations to increase capacity to adopt current research and evidence-based practices. Training held recently in the central valley on women and methamphetamine had more registrants than capacity. To continue to meet this need ADP will host two Substance Abuse Research Conferences. This year both conferences will focus on the latest research regarding women and substance abuse.

I plan to serve on the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD) committee to develop national standards for women’s treatment services. In addition, I will attend the joint Women’s Treatment Coordinators and NASADAD meeting in Vermont where I will meet with representatives from each state to hear about best practices and advocate for women’s issues.

I am excited to have the opportunity to focus on continually improving prevention and treatment services for women with the creation of the Office of Women’s and Perinatal Services. Working together, we can improve and enhance services so that women are engaged and receive the tools and support they need to establish and maintain alcohol and drug-free lives. I hope you will join me in my vision to ensure that comprehensive, participant/client-centered, and gender-responsive services are available for every woman in need.

RENÉE ZITO, LMSW, CASAC
Director