Collegiate Recovery Programs Offer Proximity, Student-Driven Services
by Barbara Trainin Blank
Statistics on alcohol and drug use on the college campus explain the need for programs on campus that support students in recovery. So does the fact that the isolation of some campuses makes it difficult for students to attend programs in the wider community.
According to 2013 data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the rates of substance use disorders tripled from 5.2 percent in adolescence to 17.3 percent in early adulthood. The number of students ages 18-24 needing help is considerably more than those in the 25-and-older category.
Data in 2017 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse indicate that while marijuana use and cigarette smoking are lower among college students than those not in college, alcohol use is higher.
Specifically, in the month prior to when the data were collected, 62 percent of college students and 56.4 percent of their non-college peers drank alcohol. Moreover, college students appear to mix alcohol with energy drinks more than the non-college group. 31.5 percent of college students had alcohol mixed with energy drinks in the previous year, compared with 26.7 percent of their non-college peers.
The Institute also found that binge drinking is higher among college students than their counterparts.
According to the Addictions Center, binge drinking, prescription drug abuse, and recreational drug use are all common problems on college campuses. Findings from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism confirm frequent drinking and even binge drinking among college students. Four out of five college students drink alcohol, and about half of college students binge drink.
SAMHSA, which conducts the annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), defines binge drinking as five or more alcoholic drinks for males or four or more alcoholic drinks for females on the same occasion (i.e., at the same time or within a couple of hours of each other) on at least one day in the past month.
The opioid crisis exists on campus, as it does elsewhere, though there is some evidence it’s not as severe there, with alcohol and marijuana being more predominant. Marijuana is much more potent than it used to be, experts have noted.
But articles in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere assert that college students are as likely as others to abuse the narcotics, according to a survey of 1,200 college-age adults commissioned in 2015 by the Hazelden Betty Ford Institute for Recovery Advocacy and the Christie Foundation.
The Role of Recovery
Alcohol and substance use disorders on campus are troubling, but there are also solutions, such as recovery programs especially designated for college and university students.
Defined as “a voluntarily maintained lifestyle characterized by sobriety, personal health, and citizenship,” according to the Betty Ford Institute, recovery from addiction is a lifelong process. With approximately 21% of the young adult population between 18 and 21 meeting the criteria for substance use disorders (SAMHSA), the collegiate community is a fertile ground for supporting students in recovery and positively influencing the stigma associated with addiction.
In general, SAMHSA has established a working definition of recovery as a process of change through which individuals improve their health and wellness, live self-directed lives, and strive to reach their full potential.
Moreover, recovery is built on access to evidence-based clinical treatment and recovery support services for all populations.
The Collegiate Recovery Program Movement
College and university students need recovery programs geared to their specific needs.
Why is that? Sober living in college isn’t easy. College campuses aren’t necessarily abstinence-friendly, to say the least.
A decade ago, most college students with addiction problems had few resources to turn to besides student health services and local AA chapters. That has changed substantially.
The purpose of recovery—or maintaining sober living on campus—whether it’s a small student-run group or a large official university program, is the same: to help students stay sober while also thriving in college.
According to the Association of Recovery in Higher Education (ARHE), an umbrella organization of collegiate and university recovery programs, a collegiate recovery program (CRP) is a college- or university-provided supportive environment within the campus culture that reinforces the decision to engage in a lifestyle of recovery from substance use disorders.
Most collegiate recovery programs are at large institutions, such as Penn State University or the University of Texas. There are not as many at small liberal arts schools or community colleges.
Tim Rabolt, ARHE’s executive director, says the organization traces its roots to some older recovery programs, such as Texas Tech, Rutgers, and Brown. “The number of such programs has grown exponentially,” Rabolt says. “We have 120 institutional members and more than 200 others. The biggest goal of all these programs is to build relationships among students to support each other.”
Effective as they are, AA or Smart Recovery programs were not considered enough for students, and what was required was a more holistic program, offering academic, social, and career support—a sort of “wraparound.”
Students in recovery, according to data from Texas Tech’s Collegiate Recovery Community, had higher GPAs when compared with those of the general student population. The recovery students were “firing on all cylinders,” Rabolt says.
Recovery programs that offer that “wraparound” seem to offer the greatest chance of overcoming substance use disorders long term.
Examples of College Recovery Programs
CRPs differ in their way of operation. Often the program is run from an academic department (perhaps out of health services), the housing department, or office of dean of students.
Our Lady of the Lake University
The CRP at Our Lady of the Lake University was begun by Dr. Rebecca Gomez, Ph.D., LCSW.
“Our Lady of the Lake University, in a high-poverty area in San Antonio, is a small faith-based school, and can be really a wonderful place for students, with close relationships with faculty,” Gomez says. “Sometimes schools with large student bodies can be overwhelming.”
Gomez noted that OLLU is the only Catholic institution with a recovery center, and the CRP “did not run into opposition or denial,” despite the religious affiliation. “If even five students need something, the school is happy to do it.”
Following the opening of the program, which is student-run, a group of students “started to meet immediately,” Gomez says, offering “peer-to-peer support.”
The advantage of the center, she added, is that attending recovery programs in the city would mean at least a 40-minute trip to get there.
During September, which is Recovery Month, the center invites two speakers on addiction and recovery.
University of Vermont
The University of Vermont’s recovery program was established in 2010, with the mission of offering students in recovery the opportunity to pursue academic success, personal growth, and professional development; to have an active and fulfilling collegiate experience; and to prepare them to be vibrant leaders in the community.
Amy Boyd Austin, MSS, is the founding director of the University of Vermont Catamount Recovery Program. The program offers recovery-based housing, affinity space, social activities, academic support, and partnership with the departments of counseling and psychiatry for clinical services. The average CRP student is 23 years old, has an average GPA of 3.7, attends more than three mutual-aid society meetings (AA, NA) a week, is active in the recovery community, and provides peer assistance/support to students who are contemplating recovery.
Sometimes participants live off campus with others in recovery, because the campus itself has parties that would make the recovery more challenging. In fact, some students in recovery state that before they entered the phase of recovery, they partied often and hardly went to class. Now they go to class, says Austin.
University of Georgia
Jason Callis, MSW, is the program manager of the Collegiate Recovery Community at the University of Georgia, which is part of the Fontaine Center for Alcohol Awareness and Education. The Fontaine family lost a son to an alcohol-related accident.
The center offers prevention, education, and recovery support. It operates within the university’s health center and offers the full spectrum of services.
Callis had visited Texas Tech University, one of the first college recovery programs in the country, and was “completely sold” on starting a similar program at UGA. He himself is the graduate of a recovery program at Kennesaw State University.
“The first piece in the center at the University of Georgia was addiction prevention and education, then brief intervention and referral out for higher level of care, and lastly, recovery support,” Callis says. “Only members of the center are required to commit to abstinence.”
Some recovery programs focus only on drug and alcohol addictions, but the University of Georgia program also serves those with eating disorders and other mental health disorders.
“Students are expected to refrain from other addictive behaviors and to remain sober,” Callis says. “But if a student relapses, he or she is not necessarily kicked out. We meet them where they are.”
Students might be sober for a day or for two years. But once the applicant is in, he or she must commit to a certain number of meetings and a seminar.
“We’re not affiliated with a 12-step program,” says Callis,“though many students are members of those, as well, and our program is modeled after it. But you won’t get academic support from a 12-step meeting.”
The program also includes an “academic check” at least once a semester, to address how school is going for the student. Also incorporated are social components and community-building activities.
University of Michigan
Matt Statman, LMSW, CAADC, is the first program manager of the University of Michigan Collegiate Recovery Program, founded in 2012. The program is part of the University Health Service.
Statman not only manages the program, but advocates on campus, where students and others may know about gaps in services.
The Michigan program provides holistic, tailored support to students who are in recovery from alcohol or other drug problems.
The program isn’t a clinical treatment program, explains Statman. Staff does not provide clinical treatment or therapy, but rather, it helps students connect with other recovering students; get involved in fun, sober events on and off campus; obtain recovery support through case management, including weekly check-ins; make connections to resources for academic support; and gain access to the lounge—a safe, supportive space for relaxation.
“The biggest goal is to create an environment where students can build relationships and support each other [to] stay well and graduate,” he adds.
Statman also took four students to a recovery conference in Houston as part of team-building.
Recovery and the College Experience
One reason collegiate recovery programs are so important is that “College campus culture can be especially challenging for people who have substance use disorders and are now in recovery,” says Statman.
Gomez, of OLLU, points out that many students arrive at college and start experimenting with drinking for the first time. “College can be stressful, and alcohol can be a primary coping tool. They may also have lost their [former] support systems,” she adds.
Even though many students who start college are experiencing being away from their families and “freedom” for the first time, some students are more vulnerable than others to the illness that is addiction, Statman adds. “Other students may make choices that are not too dissimilar but don’t have that vulnerability.”
Social Work and Collegiate Recovery Programs
Social workers have long played a role in treating addiction in hospitals, residential treatment centers, social service organizations, and health clinics. Collegiate Recovery Programs are another venue where social workers can provide counseling. They might initiate or run the programs. Social workers who are themselves in recovery can bring an extra element of understanding.
“I think a social work degree plays well into working with collegiate recovery,” says Jason Callis. “I can only speak to my own experience, but through my graduate program, I was taught a lot about working with groups and case management. As a CRP professional, we aren’t necessarily doing that individual therapy an LPC or psychologist might. I believe the social work route better prepared me to look at my students as holistically as possible, helping them create the change they wanted in their entire life—not just their addiction.”
According to Matt Statman, social work values are “all over” collegiate recovery. The emphasis on the solution to the problem being found within a community of peers rather than coming from the professional helper is important in CRPs. “Our student-centered approach is partnering with students to provide the services they value,” he says. “We take a person-in-environment approach—college campus, college culture, college student in recovery.”
He adds, “Case management, community organizing, motivational enhancement, peer support, supervision—are all hats that we wear at times.”
Resources
For more information on Collegiate Recovery Programs, visit the website of the Association for Recovery in Higher Education at: http://www.collegiaterecovery.org
Another resource is Transforming Youth Recovery at: https://www.transformingyouthrecovery.org/
Freelance writer Barbara Trainin Blank lives in the greater Washington, DC, area. She writes regularly for The New Social Worker and other publications.