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Welcome to the website for the feature documentary-in-progress On Life's Terms: Mothers in Recovery. In a world quick to condemn mothers who use illegal drugs, five women in gender specific treatment programs in San Rafael, California and Providence, RI, battle addiction, domestic violence, prostitution and incarceration to transform their lives and raise their children. The women’s stories are punctuated with laws, policies and research on maternal substance use raising awareness about treatment vs. criminalization.
Synopsis
This social justice documentary is in post-production. We expect to complete the film by Fall 2012. Your generous tax-deductible donation in any amount through our non-profit fiscal sponsor San Francisco Film Society will help us complete the film now. With a $100 donation your name, or someone you designate will be in the credits of the film. Thank you for your support!
On Life's Terms: Mothers in Recovery (formerly Moms Living Clean) follows five women in gender specific residential treatment at the Center Point, Inc. Women and Children's Program, San Rafael, CA and one woman at the Brown Center for the Study of Children at Risk, Women & Infants Hospital, Providence, RI. The women arrive voluntarily or through drug court, but they all desire the same thing: custody of their children.
Rachel, 22 escaped an abusive boyfriend with her two babies and wants to stop the cycle of violence. Lisa S, 41 petitioned the judge to give birth outside of prison and have a second chance. Leslie, 31 charged with online prostitution and drugs wants to regain custody of her daughter. Lisa R, 38 relapsed but is determined to make it for her two daughters. It hurts Lisa to realize the intergenerational impact of addiction on her mother and 8 year old daughter. “I caused those issues. They didn’t have to be there.” Sarah, 30, was running from the law, homeless and eating out of dumpsters in Providence, RI, when she got pregnant for the second time. She didn't want to lose this child to adoption and fought in court to go to a program for pregnant women rather than go to prison.
Harriett Gaines, Program Manager at Center Point in San Rafael, is African American. She describes how the moms learn parenting, recovery and life skills. Concepts such as completion, responsibility and integrity are new to some of the women.
Over three years, the women struggle to overcome past sexual and domestic violence, learn new behaviors and transform their lives in an attempt to become self-sufficient and break through the stigma. Leslie says, “Center Point taught me how to be a woman and to respect myself.”
Their stories are punctuated with laws, policies and research on maternal substance use raising questions about criminalization vs. treatment explored by: Barry Lester, PhD, Professor, Psychiatry & Human Behavior and Pediatrics, Brown Medical School, and Founder / Director, Brown Center for the Study of Children at Risk, Women & Infants Hospital at Brown Medical School. And, Sheigla Murphy, PhD, Director, Center of Substance Abuse Studies, Institute for Scientific Analysis and coauthor with Marsha Rosenbaum of “Pregnant Women on Drugs: Combating Stereotypes and Stigma."
On Life's Terms removes the mask of substance use to show the humanity of these women. The film puts a new face on drug addiction ~ recovery and hope
On Life's Terms will be a tool for social change by stimulating a national dialogue on treatment vs. criminalization and breaking family ties. The film will validate and inspire women and men in recovery, educate social service providers and law enforcement, and encourage policy makers and legislators to fund more family-centered substance abuse treatment programs. To date, there are less than 150 programs in the United States. Your generous donation now will help us make a difference in the lives of vulnerable women and children.
If you are seeking help with substance abuse issues call the Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Treatment Referral Hotline:
1-800-662-HELP or 1-800-662-4357
National Domestic Violence Hotline:
1-800-799-SAFE or 1-800-799-7233
Funded in part by: Pacific Pioneer Fund, Lucius and Eva Eastman Fund, Open Meadows Foundation, Inc., Penny Harvest Roundtable and Individual Donors.
Please contact us at: 415.564.3691 or sheila@onlifesterms.org if you or your group would like to host a fundraising screening.
(c) 2012 Sheila Ganz