It’s difficult to fathom the legacy of anything, when you’re at the beginning of the journey. But this year’s Association of Recovery in Higher Education conference, in San Diego, presented an opportunity to see what could happen across the UK, in the future.
There are 40 years separating the start of the first Collegiate Recovery Programme in the US, with that in the UK. It was 1977, at Brown University, when the first recognised programme was created, with nothing similar in the UK until 2017, when Recovery Connections began hosting peer-led groups at the University of Teesside.
2005 is also recognised as an important year for Collegiate Recovery, the year Texas Tech published the Center for Students in Recovery Replication Curriculum – the document our Toolkit and Knowledge Hub were developed from. At this point, the university was able to provide technical assistance to other US colleges, as the number of programmes around the steadily grew.
So, even there, the UK has almost two decades of work to catchup on.
Nonetheless, for UK projects to feature at this year’s international festival was some achievement, and testament to the work that’s gone into the small number of programmes currently active in the UK.
A sense of legacy
On the first night of the conference, a touching awards ceremony took place, in what attendees would soon recognise as one of the event’s regular presentation spaces. Actor and comedian, John Lehr, compered the occasion, dishing out awards to students, colleges, ‘champions’ of CRP’s, and the Lifetime Achievement Award. This year, that particular accolade went to Vince Sanchez, Associate Director of the Center for Collegiate Recovery Communities at Texas Tech, and long-term ally of CRPs in the UK.
And this award, and others for staff who didn’t always identify as a person in recovery themselves, were, for me, the most memorable and poignant moments of the occasion. Here was a collection of administrators, from all over the country, visibly moved not only by the impact CRPs have had on the students they work with, but on their own lives, too.
In these moments I, and others, witnessed the undeniable sense of legacy created in this work, and the power of the communities it builds.
Presenting our work to the world
On day three of the programme, myself, Recovery Connections CEO, Dot Smith – who began the UK’s first CRP at Teesside – and Declan Murphy, a PhD Candidate at Texas Tech, presented Collegiate Recovery UK at ARHE2024. And it’s fair to say that there were no other presentations like this, at the event.
Collegiate Recovery has been a distinctly North American entity for decades. The research around it, the volume of programmes across many States, and the immense number of students supported, it will remain ahead of the curve for a long time to come.
But, the creation of this website, toolkit, and its recognition within the world of Collegiate Recovery, demonstrates progress made outside of the US, in just a short time. Dot’s experience of building this movement in the UK from the ground up, Declan explaining recent research in Ireland, and my own input from three years of involvement, showcased how much has already changed in just a few shorts years.
Also presenting during the event was a collaboration between Recovery on Campus Alberta, and the Better Than Well Programme, in Birmingham. Again, adding an international feel to the event with updates from Canada, and Birmingham.
Making waves for the future
With a new academic year just over the horizon, in September we hope to hear from students and universities wishing to learn more about the work. How to approach addiction and recovery in student life, and provide effective, peer-led support on campus.
And perhaps, in 30 or 40 years time, representatives from programmes across the UK will come together, once every year, to celebrate the lifechanging impact Collegiate Recovery has had on students and staff alike.
To learn more, write to us at [email protected]
Professionals from the following organisations contributed to this project
