Well House helps women get lives on track after prison

By Lilla Marigza*

With its freshly painted green exterior and flowers blooming in the yard, the Well House looks like any other along its street in San Antonio. But this house is home to 10 women who are trying to make a fresh start.

The Woman at the Well program was founded in 1995 to help women coming out of prison. Statistically, two-thirds of people who are released from incarceration will return within three years. The program addresses common problems that lead to recidivism and offers housing, counseling and help with job placement.

On this day, the staff is giving an informal orientation for a new arrival. There are long lists of house rules, chores and a strict schedule, all designed to instill structure and good habits. This personal discipline will benefit the women as they re-enter the work force, but on the first day, it can feel overwhelming.

Staff member Terry McDowell assures a new resident. "It's doable," McDowell says. "It depends on how bad you want it. How hard are you willing to work for yourself? You can't do this for a boyfriend or a husband or a mother, the kids. … Do it for you."

McDowell knows firsthand what it is like to go through this process. She is a graduate of the program and returned to the Well House to work as the house manager.

She found out about Well House from her cellmates in jail, where she was serving a year for violating her probation on a drug charge. During her seven month stay as a resident at the house, she earned her high school equivalency degree.

"I have done many things in my life," she says. "I am a wife and a mother and a grandmother, but now I have my education and I started to feel complete."

Knocking on doors
Rebecca Mays is also a program graduate and a staff member. She remembers arriving at Well House right after her incarceration. "I was bankrupt in every aspect of my life…"

Mays spent seven months in the program and is now working and attending college full time. Success hasn't come easily. She says re-entering the work force with a felony on one's record can be uncomfortable, but she encourages new residents to have confidence and persevere.

"You might have to knock on 15 doors, but two of those doors may open," she says.

Resident Sherryl Cloud appreciates the support she has found at Well House. "If I ever need a shoulder to cry on, they are here spiritually, emotionally, mentally." Cloud is looking for a job and working to mend fences with her family. "When I was in my addiction, I lost everything, including my children."

She served time in prison and has been in recovery for three years battling an addiction to marijuana and painkillers. She has lived in other halfway houses in the past but hopes this time, with the help of Well House, she will finally break the cycle for herself and for her five children.

"I need to stay clean not only for myself but for my children and for my family," she says. "They need me now. They have always needed me, and it took a lot for me to realize that."

Role models
Woman at the Well grew out of a prison Bible study ministry founded by United Methodist pastor Georgia Stone. Through reaching out to women who were incarcerated Stone understood their needs. "Several told me they had no role models to be like."

Stone says most women in prison have no support system. Often, drugs, prostitution and abuse are problems within their families. "They were going back into the very same things that would probably get them in trouble again."

She wanted to offer what no other halfway house was offering: a long-term stay that included counseling, education and an introduction into a church in the local community. All, she says, are essential for women trying to build a new life. "You have to have the spiritual component for it to work, but without the rest it won't work either."

About 80 percent of the women who come to Well House graduate from the program. Graduation means having a job, appropriate housing and an established support system once they leave.

Most women come to the house after serving in prison for three to seven years. The average stay at the home is nine to 12 months. Executive Director Priscilla Murguia explains that during that time, a resident is expected to find a steady job and a steady church.

"Finding a home church is part of her stay here with us … (and) staying active in a church … so she'll have that church family to stay connected with once she leaves the Well House," Murguia says.

While religion provides a strong foundation for recovery, it also means the program cannot receive any government funding. Support for Well House comes from Texas churches and individuals who also give to the cause through volunteer work.

In the 10 years she has headed the program, Murguia has seen 450 women helped by it. "Some will stay in touch with us, (but) very few because for most of them this is a part of life they don't want to look back at … and that's OK."

Murguia is thankful that graduates such as McDowell and Mays return to lead others through the journey. Murguia watched both women, like so many others, come to the house tired and scared and leave with confidence.

"You see the transformation taking place just by their physical appearance," she says. "Not only are they beautiful outside; inside their beauty starts showing, which gives the other women encouragement to believe in themselves through God and to work with the program."

McDowell and Mays have come a long way. Both women acknowledge that the temptations and problems of the past are behind them … but never far behind. Staying on the right path is a journey that only really begins once a person leaves Well House. "It's something that you don't just graduate from and walk away," Mays says.

Mays knows that overcoming her past may take years. She has a son who still won't speak to her, but this too she will overcome.

"The relationship hasn't gotten back together," she says, "but I don't dwell on that because I know in time … God's time not mine … it will happen. Well House taught me that. I have to do what I can, put the rest in God's hands and just keep moving forward."

*Marigza is a freelance producer in Nashville, Tenn.