Being Gina

In “Being Gina,” we meet and learn from Gina Wassemiller, a mother of three and a passionate parent ally, about her personal journey of healing and resilience. She recounts her evolution from being a parent struggling with substance use disorder and abuse and losing her children to now being a leader at the F.I.R.S.T. Legal Clinic (Family Intervention Response to Stop Trauma), an organization that supports new mothers experiencing substance use challenges with legal advocacy and other services to prevent CPS removals. Through the reflections of a F.I.R.S.T. Legal Clinic mom, we see the impact trusting relationships and authentic human connections can have on families’ abilities to thrive. Empathy is built through understanding that parents are essential to their children’s well-being and worthy of receiving the supports they need to keep their families safely together. At its core, “Being Gina” is a testament to human potential and a reminder that when people are seen as worthy individuals, despite the challenges they may be facing, and provided with the supports they need, they can exercise their inherent strengths and create true and lasting change in them and their families’ lives.

We hope that the following critical questions highlight the importance of centering empathy, compassion, and understanding in your work with families to ensure they are seen, heard, and listened to without judgement. Most importantly, we encourage you to engage families in ways that center them as the architects of their own well-being.

• After watching “Being Gina”, one of the overarching themes is how Gina, drawing from her own experience, recognizes the importance of seeing parents in their full humanity despite the challenges they may be experiencing. In thinking about the stereotypes associated with parents struggling with substance use disorder, how do those perceptions impact the type of supports and care families receive? What are the different ways your community is working to disrupt these types of stereotypes and see parents in their full humanity? What more needs to be done?

• At one point, Gina says, “I offer the support I wish I’d had.” Reflect on how the stereotypes centered around shaming and blaming of parents living in addiction prevented Gina from being seen as a parent who deserves supports and resources to keep her family together. Now, consider the types of supports Gina offers F.I.R.S.T. Legal Clinic parents, which she didn’t receive. Are these supports available in your community? How can you help focus these supports on keeping families together?

• Because of Gina’s lived experience, she understands the challenges and barriers the women in the program are facing and is able to build authentic connections with them. Can you imagine what it feels like for a parent to have an ally like Gina and a support program like the F.I.R.S.T. Legal Clinic advocating on their behalf? What makes Gina’s lived experience so important for the parents she is working with?

• Think about Gina in her journey from being a parent whose children were placed in out-of-home care to now, years later, being a leader of an organization supporting families who are dealing with those same struggles. We can see that with the right support, people can exercise their inner strengths to make positive changes in their lives. How is your organization keeping this mindset front and center in the work you are doing with families and living this value every day?

• In thinking about envisioning transformative change to support families like Gina’s and others from the F.I.R.S.T. Legal Clinic, why is it important to create programs and solutions that are parent-led and informed by their lived expertise? How can communities harness current and potential parent allies’ strengths and passion to create solutions that consider what the whole family needs versus solely thinking about out-of-home placement for the child?