Women in Need court helps Las Vegas women stay sober

On her 577th consecutive day of sobriety, Juanita McAbee recoiled at a picture of her former self.

“I don’t even know that person,” McAbee said. “Throw it away.”

In Las Vegas Municipal Judge Cynthia Leung’s courtroom in March, McAbee became the 36th graduate of the Women in Need specialty court program that Leung has overseen since 2008.

McAbee was clad in a butterfly-print dress; butterflies are the symbol of the 18-month intensive program for women with chronic drug- or prostitution-related charges.

When Leung met McAbee, she had 18 days left in jail. She since has made the transition into sober housing, then into her own apartment. She said she reconnected with her children and grandchildren and is working two jobs.

“I wanted something different for my life,” McAbee said. “I needed help to get out of that pattern I was in.”

Representatives from WestCare Foundation, Dress for Success and the Foundation for Recovery, as well as other women in the program, packed Leung’s chambers for McAbee’s graduation.

In her goodbye letter to drugs, McAbee called alcohol, cocaine and herself “the three amigos.”

“I thought we would be in love for the rest of our lives,” McAbee wrote.

But when she was drinking and using cocaine, she got evicted multiple times, stole, landed in jail and strained relationships with family members and friends.

“I hate you both. Stay out,” McAbee signed off.

With McAbee’s recent graduation, Leung has about 10 women in the program.

The program started when the same offenders kept cycling through Las Vegas Municipal Court.

Leung has seen women dealing with severe psychological or physical trauma, women who were prostituted at a young age or those who grew up in a family with a history of addiction.

Some women graduate in 18 months, but the average is about 20, Leung said.

The program started at a year, but one woman inspired Leung to lengthen the timeline when she opened up at her Women in Need court graduation.

The woman shared that she’d seen her father, a pimp, get shot and killed when she was a child.

“Hearing this while graduating her, we were just touching the tip of the iceberg,” Leung said. “I’d be doing them a disservice if I graduated them too early. You can’t just uncover something like that and say, ‘OK, bye.’ That’s not responsible.”

Hundreds of women have been referred to the program, and graduates have gone on to have drug-free babies, become peer recovery counselors and graduate from UNLV or the College of Southern Nevada. Success looks different for different women, Leung said.

The women in the program have one-on-one sessions with a therapist weekly, and the program doesn’t take a “cookie-cutter” approach; it’s tailored to individual women and their needs, Leung said.

“I need these ladies to trust the process and open up,” she said.

When Leung was in law school, she encountered a standard “black-and-white model,” not “a more encompassing way of looking at people,” she said.

“I am very moved by their resilience,” Leung said. “I find it very inspiring they’re in this position and they know they’re going to die if they continue on their lifestyle, and there’s a part inside them that knows they’re worth more. They need someone to help them climb out of this abyss.”

The Women in Need court is funded by the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Grant and a grant from the Nevada Administrative Office of the Courts.

Contact Jamie Munks at jmunks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0340. Follow @Journo_Jamie_ on Twitter.