Miriam Goodman on Building Trauma-Responsive Care for Justice-Impacted Women 

As the Senior Director of Clinical Care at the Women’s Prison Association (WPA), Miriam Goodman brings over fifteen years of experience working at the intersection of the criminal legal system and gender-based violence. Her work is rooted in the belief that transformative change is possible through survivor-centered, trauma-informed, and community-driven approaches that both support healing and challenge the structures that sustain violence. 

Prior to her role as the Senior Director of Clinical Services, Miriam worked as a Senior Policy Advocate at CUNY Institute for State & Local Governance (2023-2026), the Director of Alternative to Incarceration Programming at WPA (2016-2023), the Assistant Director of Anti-Trafficking and Trauma Initiatives (2010-2016), and as a therapist at the Center for Counseling and Mediation (2013-2016). Through these roles, she witnessed firsthand how systemic inequities—racism, poverty, homophobia, and transphobia—compound harm and obstruct healing, and she brings this understanding to her work by prioritizing client comfort, safety, and agency. 

Hear from Miriam as she shares the passion behind her client-centered approach below. 

Your career has spanned direct clinical work, program leadership, and advocacy. How do these different roles inform the way you approach your leadership today at WPA? 

My clinical work keeps me grounded in the realities people are navigating every day — the complexity, the trauma, and the resilience that often gets overlooked. Leading programs taught me how to translate those individual experiences into systems and structures that actually work for both staff and participants. And my advocacy work pushes me to stay focused on the bigger picture — how policies and narratives shape outcomes, and where change is needed. At WPA, I bring all of that together by leading in a way that is both deeply human and strategically focused on shifting systems. 

In your previous role as the Director of the Alternatives to Incarceration (ATI) program at WPA, you helped develop the program as it operates today. What was your experience building this community-based, trauma-responsive model? 

Building the ATI program into what it is today was a true team effort, shaped by a group of people who were really committed to doing things differently. A big part of the work was reimagining the model so it could be more flexible and responsive — moving away from a rigid structure and instead building something that reflected what participants actually said they wanted and needed.  

It also required a lot of advocacy, education, and ongoing collaboration with stakeholders—defense attorneys, DAs, and judges—to build understanding and trust so we could effectively advocate for the people in our program. My role was often about helping translate those values into the day-to-day — structures, partnerships, and processes that could hold that vision. It was challenging at times, but also incredibly grounding and energizing, and it reinforced how powerful it is when a team is aligned around a shared approach. 

Many survivors of intimate partner violence and exploitation have been criminalized for actions taken to survive, reflecting the impact of their trauma. What does meaningful support for these survivors look like in practice as they navigate the criminal legal system? 

Meaningful support starts with believing people and working alongside them as they navigate a system that is incredibly harmful. Too often, survivors of intimate partner violence and exploitation aren’t believed once they’re charged or convicted, even though so many people we meet are clear that their experiences of abuse are directly connected to why they’re in the system in the first place.  

In many ways, the system repeats the same dynamics they’ve already lived through — harmful power dynamics, coercive control, and so on. 

In practice, it means showing up consistently, being honest, and meeting people where they are. Trust takes time. Our role is to walk alongside someone through the legal process, make sure their story is understood in context, and advocate for outcomes that actually reflect what they’ve been through — not just what’s written on paper. 

How do you define healing when working with justice-impacted women and survivors of trauma? 

I think of healing as something that’s not linear and looks different for everyone. It’s not about fixing anything — it’s about people feeling a sense of safety, control, and possibility in their lives again.  

For many of the women we work with, it’s also about being seen and believed, and having space to make their own choices.  

Healing is messy and ongoing, but even small shifts — like feeling more stable during a hard moment or connected to even one person they weren’t connected to before — really matter. 

You’ve worked closely with justice-impacted women and survivors of gender-based violence to build out care models informed by their lived experiences. What insights have you found at the intersection of these two areas, and how can models of care better support clients impacted by both systemic and gender-based violence? 

One of the biggest insights is how deeply connected these experiences are — so many of the women we work with have faced both systemic harm and gender-based violence, and one often shapes the other. Usually, systems treat these as separate issues, which means people don’t get support that actually reflects their reality. 

What we’ve learned is that models of care need to be more flexible, grounded in lived experience, and built around what people say they need — not what systems expect.  

That includes believing people, understanding the full context of their lives, and creating space for choice and trust to build over time. It also means being willing to challenge the system itself, not just helping people navigate it. 

Looking ahead, what do you see as the biggest opportunities to improve support for justice-impacted women? 

I think one of the biggest opportunities is expanding support at every point — not just in the community, but for women who are currently detained at Rikers, incarcerated in women’s prisons, and those coming home after long periods inside. People who are incarcerated for long lengths of time deserve real, consistent support, not just when they’re close to release. 

There’s also a real opportunity to build more connected, trauma-responsive approaches that don’t drop off as people move through the system. Support should be consistent, grounded in what women actually say they need, and flexible enough to meet them at different stages. 

To learn more about WPA’s programs and services for justice-impacted women, click here.