Implementation

This chapter, “Implementation,” follows the project’s development in four sections. The first, “Setting the Stage: Developing Ground Rules,” describes how Julie and Susan worked with incarcerated women to develop guidelines which acknowledged the institutional and interpersonal realities of their lives. Second, “Motivations for Beginning a Peer Mentoring Relationship,” features incarcerated women’s observations from the first all-day mentor/mentee workshop Julie and Susan hosted at both prisons. Third, “What it Means to be a Mentor,” describes incarcerated women’s perspectives on the mentor role and responsibilities accompanying it. Fourth, “Making Connections,” details the preliminary meetings between mentors and mentees as they made their choices regarding pairings, and the follow-up meetings in which we adapted the project’s structure based on the women’s feedback. Chapter 4 ’s final section, “Follow-Up,” describes the problems, improvisations, and development of collaborative solutions which coincided with the WoW initiative’s first implementation.