FORUM on Corrections Research

Structured living environments in Canadian federal institutions for women

Roma Cunningham¹
Correctional Service of Canada

It was Monday afternoon. Hummingbird staff were in the middle of the Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) individual program reviews. Ruthie was up next. She came in smiling at everyone and sat down. She began talking about how excited she was about her upcoming parole hearing. As we watched her we were taken back to the days when we dreaded her reviews and had to sit in the dark to even get her to come through the door.

Behaviour change is the business of Hummingbird House at the Edmonton Institution For Women (EIFW). This Structured Living Environment (SLE) was so named because in coastal Native culture, the hummingbird is synonymous with healing. Hummingbird House fulfilled the gap in services for a few women offenders with significant mental health and emotional disregulation issues. All SLEs in the federal women’s facilities across Canada are very similar. They are stand alone structures that house a maximum of eight minimum and/or medium security women. In comparison to the rest of the housing units the SLE is resource rich. Part time psychological services and staff clinical supervision are provided by the Chief of Psychology. Three dedicated Behaviour Counselors facilitate the Dialectical Behaviour Therapy group and work individually with the women, while specially selected Primary Workers co-facilitate the group and provide security. The psychiatric nurse supports the team and provides information from a medical perspective. The Team Leader fulfills the administrative role but also plays a very “hands on” role in the daily operations of the unit. Prior to the opening of the unit all staff received general mental health, DBT and Psychosocial Rehabilitation (PSR) training from National Headquarters.

Hummingbird House opened its doors in December, 2001 to six women who had been specifically selected by the Coordinated Care Committee from staff referrals. Since that time Hummingbird House has been home to 39 different women. Some women come for a short time while they work on specific problematic behaviours, while others are long-term residents who really want to make significant lifestyle changes and can tolerate the 24 hour staff scrutiny. The primary therapy model is DBT². This is a cognitive-behavioural therapy approach specifically adapted to target not just borderline personality features, but anti-social personality traits as well. The DBT skills group is held each weekday morning while the remainder of the day and weekends allow the women the opportunity to practice their new skills in a relatively safe environment. Any specific problems that a woman may be encountering can be dealt with by her individual counsellor in the weekly one-on-one session.

Marie moves to Hummingbird House because she was having significant trouble getting along in a regular housing unit. When she arrived she was very sullen and didn’t appear to like staff. While she attended the group she did not like to be called on to participate. However, her homework assignments and questions to staff outside the group indicated that she was attentive and learning. She was a challenge. She was so fearful of social settings that she found it terrifying to participate in her own DBT program review conferences. The lights were turned out so she could talk. She has come so far that she was recently granted day parole to a treatment facility and she is really excited about going. She still has bad days but now when staff ask her what skill would be useful to get her through the stressful situation, she is able to identify and practice this new behaviour, thereby de-escalating herself. She is very proud of her newfound ability. So are staff.