Students at Colorado State University are working to create a safe group for students to discuss substance abuse.
“CSU has really great prevention and intervention services, but no services for students that are in recovery from substance abuse,” said Kelsey Worfler, facilitator of the planning and implementation of the campus recovery community. “The big purpose of a campus recovery community is for students to support other students.”
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The group hosts meetings dedicated to giving other recovering students an avenue to discuss and overcome substance abuse.
“I am in recovery,” member Chris Mullen said. “Helping other people in recovery is what recovery is about.”
Texas Tech originally created a substance abuse program 30 years ago, and recently wrote a how-to guide for other colleges to create programs at their school.
“This was an important part of my recovery,” member Austin Johnson said. “Being able to find people that were like me, and to be able to utilize those resources and find a safe place to go. Hopefully other students will be able to find that as well.”
The next step for this group is to spread the word about their meetings to other recovering CSU students.
“Now we are trying to get student involvement,” Worfler said. “We want to hear from people with long term recovery and people with short term recovery.”
This group is directed specifically at CSU students in order to create a safe environment to talk to and support students in the same position as they are.
“The collegiate environment inherently puts recovering students physical and mental well being at risk, as well as their sobriety,” Worfler said.
Students recovering in the community can now be with other people their age and with their same surroundings.
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“CSU has a very specific demographic,” member Timothy Gold said. “Tailoring a program for the CSU culture in general would be beneficial in the long run.”
The program is meant to be casual. It does not require any paperwork, and members are not required to attend specific meetings.
“You don’t have to sign up or commit,” Mullen said. “Just come check it out.”
The committee will have a focus group on April 14 from 7-9 p.m. in the LSC room 378.
“I am making cookies,” Worfler said. “I make very good cookies.”
Collegian Reporter Grace Reader can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @CTV_Grace.
