Sober College’s Unique Approach to Young Adults through a Female Lens

The women’s program of Sober College is a residential component catering exclusively to young-adult women struggling to recover from drug and alcohol addiction. The program is designed to address the 5 core competencies of the Sober College’s curriculum (sobriety, emotional well-being, life skills, productivity, and physical fitness) through a female sobriety lens. The program and curriculum was designed by young adult women in recovery for maximum impact towards young adult women needing a 12-Step environment.

Offering a Women-Centric Curriculum

We have designed the first ninety days of the women’s program to touch upon and open the doors to several issues pertaining to young adult women in early sobriety. Every Sunday the women have a community process group led by the Women’s Program Coordinator that focuses on a different topic. Following the group, the women partake in an activity that is an experiential educational manifestation of the topic being covered that day. The community process group is geared towards the relaying and discussing of issues and the activity that follows is designed to provide the women with insight into the topic of the day along with motivation to change through demonstration of appropriate, healthy action.

In addition to 12-Step meetings and sobriety work, specialized topics include:

Self-Esteem Boundaries Sex and Love Fear

Disease Concept Body Issues Spirituality Healthy Voice

Father-Daughter Mother-Daughter Taking Action

Gender-Specific Housing and Staffing

Women live in upscale residential homes “dorms” that are run as sober living environments. These dorms are single-sex and everything is overseen by female staff. Women are also required to work with a same-sex sponsor.

Program Goals

There are several goals of the women’s program. We want to instill a solid foundation sobriety utilizing the principles and traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous, while providing a forum for their goals and aspirations to manifest. From enrolling in voice lessons to finding an internship at a veterinarian’s office, we will stop at nothing to make our women’s dreams come true. Sober College’s women’s program is a place for women to both set boundaries and push limits. We foster a strong sense of community in which the women can learn to thrive in sobriety and gain pride for being a sober woman.