Substance Abuse Recovery in College / Advancing Responsible Adolescent Development (PDF)

As a nationally recognized expert in recovery and recovery support, Dr. Harris was a member of the 2005 National Summit on Recovery sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and Center for Substance Abuse Treatment.

individual seeks recovery. Rather, the book demonstrates how youths with substance use problems can simultaneous nurture their recovery and achieve, even thrive, academically.

The book describes the Collegiate Recovery Communities at Texas Tech University (TTU), a youth oriented recovery community designed to support a substance-free life and to promote addiction recovery in the context of institutions of higher education that are too often ‘abstinence-hostile.’ Young people in the process of overcoming substance use problems often forego pursuing a higher education, arguably among the most important assets to a achieving ‘a good life’ but one that is too often denied or delayed by chronic addiction because of the rampant alcohol and drug use on college campuses and the peer-pressure to drink and/or do drug to ‘fit in.’ While 12-step fellowships are an important part of a successful collegiate recovery community, by themselves they may not be sufficient to support abstinence and recovery on a college campus where socializing often revolves around drinking and partying. Collegiate Recovery Communities (CRC) provide a supportive environment of peers in the academic setting, with three goals: (a) to lay a foundation for long-term and sustained recovery, (b) to provide a context where community members can safely pursue their education, and (c) to instill character in students to help them function in society. The program is guided and supported by professionals but relies most on peer-to-peer support, the basis of mutual aid groups, that provides not only abstinence and other forms of support but also role models, shared strategies to handle stress and resist temptations to use drugs or drink, acceptance, identification and a substance-free social network.

Written equally well for the scientist and the lay reader, the book reviews the need for college-based recovery communities and the theoretical Ericksonian foundations of the program; it then presents a series of studies describing the CRC students, their substance use and academic outcomes - a remarkably low rate of return to substance use and impressive grade point averages, and the strategies they use to maintain their recovery; using an innovative technique, daily diary data collection using palm pilots, the authors provide insights into students’ experiences being part of CRC, especially the social support network that promotes abstinence from drugs and alcohol use.

Not surprisingly, the TTU program has become a model for other colleges and universities to build their own collegiate recovery communities with the support of several federal agencies. The book finishes with a ‘lessons learnt’ chapter that puts the CRC model into the context of related efforts such as recovery schools, discusses the logistics of implementing and evaluating a recovery support program and presents examples of pilot efforts to export the model to other campuses. The book is a must read for educators, addiction scientists, and school and college counselors as well as for young people with substance use problems who are considering college, and for their parents."

-Alexandre B. Laudet, Ph.D., October 9, 2009

“Describes the implementation of a collegiate recovery community (CRC) … . this book may appeal to professionals working directly with adolescents and young adults with substance use disorders, as well as to researchers who study continuing care models or alcohol and drug use among college-age individuals. … The main value of this book, edited by H. Harrington Cleveland, Kitty S. Harris, and Richard P. Wiebe, is that it thoroughly introduces this novel continuing care model for college students recovering from addictions.” (Douglas C. Smith, PsycCRITIQUES, Vol. 55 (42), October, 2010)