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Recovery in the News
Book Outlines Drug Recovery Program
Research largely gathered at Texas Tech has led to the publishing of a first-of-its-kind book that details the framework for substance abuse recovery programs in a collegiate setting.
Matthew Cobb
The Avalanche Journal
April 4, 2010
Research largely gathered at Texas Tech has led to the publishing of a first-of-its-kind book that details the framework for substance abuse recovery programs in a collegiate setting.
The book “Substance Abuse Recovery in College” discusses issues such as the need for recovery services in college and could help universities around the world establish substance abuse programs for students.
Kitty Harris, the director of the Center for the Study of Addiction and Recovery at Texas Tech and one of the book’s co-editors, said the center’s success has caused it to become one of the primary models that universities around the nation are trying to replicate, and the book highlights ways to implement similar types of programs.
“We have about a 94 percent success rate,” Harris said. “You just don’t find that kind of success in substance abuse recovery. We do a good job of meeting the needs of the students that we serve.”
The center accepts students of all majors who have struggled with substance abuse in the past, Harris said. Once accepted, the program requires students to attend recovery meetings, participate in community service, and maintain a certain grade point average. Students from around the nation have applied to Texas Tech to be active in the program.
The program’s participants have maintained an average 3.34 GPA, which is higher than the university average, Harris said.
The college demographic has the highest rate of substance abuse in the nation so recovery programs are needed at universities, she said.
“These students made bad choices as adolescents and teenagers, but that shouldn’t sink them for the rest of their lives,” Harris said. “This gives them a second chance to do things differently.”
Much of the information in the book was gathered through research conducted at the Center for the Study of Addiction and Recovery at Texas Tech, Harris said. Information was gathered partly through surveys and focus groups.
Also, recovery students participated in a study where they carried around Palm Pilots and answered questions throughout the day, Harris said. This led to the establishment of a database that revealed what the students’ lives look like on a daily basis.
Amanda Baker, the associate director for grants and special projects for the Center for the Study of Addiction and Recovery at Texas Tech, said she authored a chapter of the book that focuses on how to replicate models of the recovery program.
The book could help other institutions secure grants and funds to establish substance abuse programs, Baker said.
“This book is the first definite source that people looking to provide support services on college campuses can go to,” Baker said.
Texas Tech is currently working with several universities around the nation to establish similar recovery programs for students, Baker said.
Other universities around the nation have already replicated Texas Tech’s program, Harris said. The University of Texas at Austin, Vanderbilt University and the University of Alabama are just a few of the institutions that Tech has worked with to establish recovery programs.
Baker said the book’s benefits could potentially stretch further than just helping the college demographic and may affect the programs high schools have in place to provide aid to students.
Matthew Russell, a research associate for the Center for the Study of Addiction and Recovery at Texas Tech, said he authored a chapter about developmental concerns of students who have faced substance abuse issues. He said recovery programs are an attractive element for universities.
“We’re actually finding there are parents who have kids in high school that are looking at Texas Tech and other schools throughout the country that have recovery programs to help their son or daughter,” Russell said.
He said Texas Tech’s success has received attention from national and international universities, including two schools in England that have expressed interest in replicating the program.