Employment Model
We’re in the business of providing second chances
Unshattered hires women who are overcoming devastating circumstances such as addiction, trafficking, abuse, abandonment, and incarceration. Before starting employment with us, they must have completed a 12-month residential recovery program somewhere in the United States.
Women coming out of recovery programs often lack the skills and resources to maintain the sobriety they worked so hard to achieve. Job readiness isn’t the only issue for women in recovery. Without money for an apartment, transportation or a like-minded community to support them, many women leave their recovery programs only to end up right back where they started - in the community where they were previously using and relapsing. This is where Unshattered comes in.
We believe there’s no such thing as a hopeless “junkie”, there’s only a wounded woman who deserves a second chance.
Unshattered provides second-chance employment opportunities for women who have experienced addiction and come out the other side. After studying the journeys of women in recovery, we realized that a pathway to economic recovery is just as essential as the physical and psychological healing from addiction. By providing employment and job skills training in a community of like-minded women and continued dedication to ongoing personal and professional development, we’re seeing women remain sober and reach their full potential.
Training Period: 10 Weeks – A Time of Healing and Learning
The training period is focused on job readiness and personal development. It is the women’s chance to decide if this program is for her and if she is truly committed to the effort required. Our model is to evolve every woman's thinking to be like that of an entrepreneur, whose income is dependent on their contribution to the team. Not just the quality of their work but their commitment to continued growth and engagement in our community.
Women in the training program join the team at Unshattered while room, board and transportation are provided at no cost to them. At the completion of the training period, our goal is for them to become full-time employees at Unshattered.
Full-Time Employment: Months One through Six – Finding Purpose and Hope
Once invited into employment at Unshattered, women in these roles are full-time employees receiving both wages and benefits including paid vacation/sick time, therapeutic counseling, vision/dental insurance, employee discounts, and more. As they grow and are promoted within the organization, they gain access to healthcare, educational opportunities and increasing benefits.
Our goal for each employee at Unshattered is truly about career development. We want them to thrive professionally wherever their career pathway takes them. By designing, manufacturing, marketing, and selling handbags, the women learn industry skills that increase their marketability and income potential. We wrap our work week around a curriculum designed to inspire each woman to her highest possible level of success. In addition to their job responsibilities, they participate in an ongoing personal and professional development curriculum. Employees spend 10% of their paid hours receiving personal and professional education to help them grow and thrive.
We partner with industry leaders, such as Marist College and designers who led design at companies such as Henri Bendel and Ralph Lauren, to provide high caliber training and product design. These strategic relationships both build skills and confidence to help our women reach their full potential.
The 6 Month Milestone – Becoming an Ambassador of Possibility!
When women in our program reach the six month mark, experience has shown that this milestone is a significant predictor of their potential for long-term success. Once they hit this milestone, they begin to take ownership of their own success. They have moved from a mindset of fear and doubt to one of possibility. A vision of their future in recovery is developing and they start to see what they are really capable of . . . and they want more!
Not only do they start to believe in themselves and what is possible for their future, now they see what is possible for others. They needed hope outside of themselves in order to get to this milestone and now they realize they are that hope for other people who can’t yet believe in themselves. They become a role model for new trainees and a champion for their progress - and it’s a great feeling. For someone to look at them in a positive way is such a fulfilling and motivating experience. This is where we begin to see them taking ownership of their future.
Six Months and Beyond: Thriving in Recovery
Unshattered is truly led by the women we served. They hold management positions throughout the organization and are the face of the business to our customers. As they grow their skill sets and find their professional calling, they grow our organization in new ways every day.
Our team speaks nationally, sharing our mission and stories with major media outlets and even at the White House. They are learning from the best in the industry, across all areas of the business. It’s not uncommon for them to sit in a boardroom of a Fortune 500 business and share best practices in manufacturing and design.
Network poverty refers to having a personal network including merely or mostly resource-poor people and, thus, lacking ties to resources such as knowledge, wealth, skills, power and information.
We are always looking for opportunities to advance the operations of our business and to provide professional development for the women we serve. Just like it was critical for them to have a role model early in their recovery journey, it is important for them to have mentors and experiences beyond what is inside our doors for their professional journey. Providing access to a broader professional network and seeing the possibilities for their own personal career growth, allows them to dream about what is possible for their future and increase their income potential.
Why Unshattered?
When you support Unshattered, you are offering women a combination of community, employment, and personal and professional development. This combination gives them the opportunity to find their purpose and live an addiction-free life. Just like your handbag, these women are being made new again.