A Community College approach to the Collegiate Recovery Movement

Abstract

The history of collegiate recovery programs in the United States attempts to connect two competing yet related activities. The First Movement is a treatment renewal movement whose goals are to reconnect treatment to the process of long-term recovery and rebuild relationships between treatment organizations, local communities and local recovery support groups. The Second Movement, the recovery advocacy movement, rose in reaction to the re-stigmatization, de-medicalization and re-criminalization of alcohol and other drug (AOD) problems in the 1980s and 1990s. The goals of this second movement included reaffirming the reality of long-term addiction recovery, by celebrating the legitimacy of multiple pathways of recovery, enhancing the variety, availability and quality of local/ regional treatment and recovery support services, and transforming existing human services into recovery-oriented systems of care. The goal of the above approaches is to integrate a comprehensive social support network both on campus and in the community geared toward: (1) the elimination of stress on college campuses; (2) being attentive regarding environmental factors such as, stigma and discrimination; and (3) increasing employment opportunities (workforce Initiatives).