title: A rite of passage approach designed to preserve the families of substance-abusing African American women.
abstract: This article approaches the treatment of addicted African American women in ways drawn from traditional African culture. While the modern African American woman is clearly not the same as her continental African foremother, the reality of her life is still predicated on the basis of her culture and her material wealth or lack of it. The approach recommended here, a rite of passage, derives from the belief that the value orientations drawn from the African wisdom of the ages offers the best way to work with families to recover both sobriety and a powerful understanding and repossession of culture that will help to ensure not only sobriety but also ways of holding together and rebuilding the families of today and the future.
authors.affiliation: Partnership for Family Preservation Program, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: V L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Poitier
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Niliwaambieni
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Rowe
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D003469:Culture; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008396:Maryland; D016320:Substance Abuse Treatment Centers / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000628:therapy*