Findings from the Women, Co-occurring Disorders and Violence Study (WCDVS) were recently released. Conducted over five years and involving over 2,500 participants, the study shows that women with mental illnesses and substance abuse disorders, as well as histories of violence, are more likely to respond to treatment that focuses on all three of their needs.

Click here to view WCDVS’s findings.

The study was supported by three centers within the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: the Center for Mental Health Services, the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, and the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. Conducted by Policy Research Associates, Inc. (PRA), WCDVS recommends that:

• Service providers must better recognize the presence of past and present trauma as a central concern in a woman’s life.
• Women should be encouraged to play an active role in their healing process and provided with a better understanding of how to do so, from the onset.
• There must be a more widespread and comprehensive recognition that violence and trauma significantly impact a person’s belief system, self-perception and relationships with others.
• Providers need to meet women where they “are” mentally and emotionally, with careful readiness assessments, pacing and patience.

To read WCDVS’s Program Summary, click here.

To access the National GAINS Center's (a branch of PRA) series on women with co-occurring disorders in the criminal justice system, click here.