A programme crucial to student wellbeing

Personally, it helped me massively. I came into higher education at a later age, as a student in recovery. I was full of fear, didn’t know what to expect, didn’t think I was good enough to come to university. So I needed reassurance that I wasn’t going through, what I thought, was the unique experience of being a student and being in recovery, on my own. 

That’s how it really helped me, and that’s how it’s helped other people who’ve come through the programme as well. That ability to be able to sit, talk openly about the kinds of things that affect them as a student in recovery, and as a student. The workload, the exams, the dissertations. Being away from home, which is a relatively new concept for a lot of people – all those elements that are in this melting pot of university life. That’s how it helps and supports student wellbeing. And it gives people that reason to continue, when things are hard. 

Whether a university wants to admit it or not, there is a problem with drug and alcohol use on campus, because there is everywhere else in the country. Mental health and addiction marry together perfectly, so you generally don’t have one without the other. There’s an absolute need for that joint work between student services, student wellbeing services, and us as a CRP.

Students all across the country get sucked into this culture where it’s really heavily focussed on partying, alcohol, drug consumption. Very much for recreational use at first, but that can lead to problems. And, there are a lot of students in recovery on campus that need that support. Then there may be a lot of students who do not know that they need that support, yet.

Plus, there are a lot of students going into higher education who need the support network of peer-led, mutual aid on site. That’s students in recovery, supporting other students in recovery.

Plus, there are also a lot of students who’ve been affected by addiction via a third party. Whether that be a family member, a family friend, or a sibling. This isn’t exclusively for people in recovery, it’s for people who’ve been affected by addiction as well.

I do see a shift in attitudes towards drug and alcohol use on campus, and I think it’s good to have something there for those people who just don’t want to partake in that stuff. So even if they’re not a student in recovery, I think creating a culture where we become more encouraging and accepting, just to be teetotal and mindful and happy, is crucial for student wellbeing.

Inclusivity appears to be of vital importance to universities, with many marketing teams talking about how if you join their university you can access wellbeing support for common mental health problems such as depression or anxiety, or join a thriving community. But people in recovery, or those who are in active addiction, are simply not included in such messaging. It’s as though the problem doesn’t exist, when, in reality, not only is it a common problem that affects many students, but university life can actually perpetuate it if the right support systems aren’t in place.