Collaboratively Determining Direction and Parameters

This chapter, “Collaboratively Determining Direction and Parameters,” has four sections which detail how the project emerged. The first section details the project’s precedent in Julie’s and Susan’s previous work together with women incarcerated in Wyoming, the nation’s least populous state and home to a state prison system which fostered some truly innovative approaches to rehabilitation. Second Two, “Setting the Parameters I: Understanding Needs” presents the results of Susan’s initial conversations with incarcerated women as well as the surveys they completed on that first visit. Section Three, “Setting the Parameters II: Understanding Goals and Realizable Possibilities,” reports findings from Susan’s unstructured interviews and focus groups with the women in that initial visit. Section Four, “Expanding the WoW Collective to Campus: Structure, Content, and Division of Labor,” explains how we worked together on campus to develop the peer mentor manual in a way which reflected our respective individual strengths.