National Recovery Month | A Look at Virginia's Collegiate Recovery Programs

Snapshots from the stereotypical college experience often include late nights at the library, life in tiny dorm rooms, and significant alcohol and drug use. Colleges and universities are often recovery-hostile environments with student cultures centered around substance use. For students with substance use disorders, this results in feeling that they need to choose between their education and their recovery.

With the support of State Opioid Response grant funding, Universities across Virginia are working to change this dynamic with Collegiate Recovery Programs (CRP), which are on-campus communities specialized for students in recovery. CRPs provide services and supportive spaces that address the entire range of student needs. Some of these services include:

• Recovery coaching

• Recovery meetings (e.g., 12-step, SMART recovery, etc.),

• Educational and social recovery events

• Trips and retreats

• Seminars

• Recovery-focused academic classes

• Pre-recovery interventions and support

• Disability accommodation support

In addition to supporting the academic success and overall wellness of students[1],[2], these spaces create something even more valuable: a sense of belonging on campus. Countless students have described the positive impacts of CRPs on their education and their recovery process, no longer forcing them to choose.

Beyond supporting students, the mission of CRPs extends to larger goals of changing the substance-focused campus culture. Virginia Commonwealth University's (VCU) CRP, Rams in Recovery, facilitates frequent Recovery Ally trainings for university students, staff, and faculty, as well as the surrounding community in Richmond, VA. With the support of Rams in Recovery, Recovery Ally trainings are frequently offered at higher education institutions throughout Virginia, including at University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Virginia Union University, University of Richmond, Longwood University, Washington and Lee University, Radford University, University of Mary Washington, and Hampden-Sydney College. Recently, the trainings have become increasingly common across the country.

The Recovery Ally curriculum developed by Rams in Recovery's leader, Tom Bannard, identifies ways that anyone can support people in recovery, such as using destigmatizing language, understanding the science of addiction, or accommodating people in recovery when planning events. Creating more Recovery Allies, on campus and off, builds a safer community for those who may benefit from recovery and a more inclusive culture that de-centers substance use.

OMNI recently developed an outcomes evaluation for Recovery Ally trainings in partnership with Rams in Recovery. This evaluation will allow us to see how the trainings increase participants' understanding of substance use and recovery as important community issues, confidence to act, and commitment to the practice of Recovery Allyship. We look forward to sharing more detail about the outcomes of this exciting training in the future!

[1] Robert D. Ashford, Austin M. Brown & Brenda Curtis (2018) Collegiate Recovery Programs: The Integrated Behavioral Health Model, Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 36:2, 274-285, DOI: 10.1080/07347324.2017.1415176

[2] Robert D. Ashford, Austin M. Brown, Emily Eisenhart, Anne Thompson-Heller & Brenda Curtis (2018) What we know about students in recovery: meta-synthesis of collegiate recovery programs, 2000-2017, Addiction Research & Theory, 26:5, 405-413, DOI: 10.1080/16066359.2018.1425399