Giving Women With Substance Use Disorders a Chance at Success

Giving Women With Substance Use Disorders a Chance at Success

The nonprofit Resonance Center for Women in Tulsa and Tulsa County Alternative Court programs are collaborating to improve chances of success for women recovering from substance use disorders by keeping them out of prison.

Resonance's Substance Use Treatment and Diversion Services program offers individual and group therapy, case management and transitional housing to support long-term recovery. The program empowers women to become sober, employed and independently housed, leading to healthier families and communities.

"This is making a huge difference for women and their children," says Resonance Executive Director Katie Gill Miller. "Families are being reunited, and the children are proud of what their mothers are achieving."

With funding from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma, Resonance's diversion program will provide resources to 200 women. BCBSOK awarded Resonance a $50,000 grant in 2025 as part of its Blue Impact^℠ program, which supports organizations working to address social and economic factors that affect health.

Resonance serves women and meet the needs of those who have been justice-involved.

Since 1977, Resonance has served women and helped meet the needs of those who have been justice-involved. The funding helps support program staff and allows women to live and work in the community and care for their children while undergoing as many as three years of outpatient treatment.

"As an Oklahoma-grown company, we are uniquely aware of the factors that affect our state's health," says Brooke Townsend, BCBSOK community affairs director. "Our Blue Impact grants target barriers to a healthy life, such as having a good-paying job, health care access and stable housing."

Last year, BCBSOK awarded 21 nonprofits statewide more than $993,000 in Blue Impact grants. Fifty percent of the grants were awarded to rural communities and statewide programs, while the remaining funds were awarded to the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metro areas.

Additionally, BCBSOK supports Resonance's annual fundraising gala, Stacked Deck | Full House. A BCBSOK employee also sits on the nonprofit's board of directors.

"Resonance uniquely meets the complex needs of women in the community at a critical time in their lives," Townsend says. "By supporting the work of Resonance, BCBSOK is helping break the cycle of poverty and addiction for families in Tulsa and improving the health of individuals."

Every year, Resonance serves about 1,600 women in Oklahoma, where the female incarceration rate is twice the national average. Many of them also are trauma survivors whose experiences contributed to substance use and addiction that led to incarceration.

As an example, Gill Miller recalls a client who was sent to live with an aunt at age 13 after her mother was incarcerated. After she was kicked out of the home, the client began using drugs, became justice-involved and lost custody of her child before seeking help at Resonance.

The client's successes include becoming a restaurant manager and getting her first apartment.

"When you don't have a support system, it can be a difficult track," Gill Miller says. "It's hard to know how someone's going to have a chance at success."

After women are released from prison, Resonance provides job readiness and employment assistance, addiction recovery treatment, transportation, housing and case management.

Women also can apply to live and work at Take 2: A Resonance Café, a work and housing social enterprise. The restaurant and housing in downtown Tulsa provide women the opportunity to establish a work history, focusing on family reunification, skills training and self-sufficiency.

Fewer than 2% of Resonance clients have returned to incarceration in three years, Gill Miller says.

"I've always had a heart for serving women," she says. "I see the level of impact we have on women's lives every single day. When you see the seeds that have been planted, you know there is a true value in what we're doing."