Talking Stick - January/February 2019 - 28

ACADEMIC INITIATIVES

application. The program is also open
to students at St. Cloud Technical &
Community College. "It's pretty cool
to see students embrace who they are,
enjoy recovery, and stay sober," Rybka
notes.

Emergency Response
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported
that the number of overdose deaths in 15- to 24-year-olds increased
28 percent between 2015 and 2016. Meanwhile, according to a study
published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent
Psychiatry, from 1993 to 2005, prescription opioid use increased 343
percent among college students. While a CRP helps students on the
road to recovery, campuses are also taking steps to respond to the
immediate crisis of a drug overdose.
A recent story on National Public Radio explored how more campuses
now have Narcan available through their health services and campus
police offices. The story focused on how Bridgewater State University
in Massachusetts has mounted 60 opioid overdose kits next to existing
defibrillator units across campus. In addition, more than 1,000 people
have been trained to administer the nosespray doses. (The drug is also
sometimes administered through an injection.)
In discussions in the ACUHO-I online community, opinions
were divided about staff - particularly student resident assistants
- administering Narcan. Some campuses reported that Naloxone/
Narcan was available in residence hall first aid kits and that staff
training had been offered. Others, however, reported that students and
paraprofessional staff were instructed to not administer it and instead
to contact campus police or emergency services. Concern was expressed
for the extreme, sometimes violent, response some individuals can have
after receiving Narcan. The drug knocks opioids off of brain receptors,
which restores breathing but also puts the patient into immediate
withdrawal, which can cause symptoms such as vomiting, a rapid
heartbeat, body aches, and shivering.

28

TALKING STICK

The growing presence of recovery
housing represents an important
shift in students' willingness to seek
help. Marie Cascarano, the health
promotion coordinator at Montclair
State University in New Jersey,
believes that one barrier to success
for recovery housing is "the stigma
that surrounds recovery and lack of
visibility for the recovery community."
To that end, the campus opted
for a soft launch of their recovery
housing program this year, in essence
anticipating a future need rather than
responding to an existing situation. It

. . . THE GROWING
PRESENCE OF
RECOVERY HOUSING
REPRESENTS AN
IMPORTANT SHIFT
IN STUDENTS'
WILLINGNESS TO SEEK
HELP.
is all part of a plan, she says, "to build
a supportive network of allies to help
increase visibility and reduce stigma."
At Penn State University in University
Park, the Collegiate Recovery
Community opened the Residence
of Addiction Recovery (ROAR)
House. Jason Whitney, the program
coordinator, explains that the campus
initially put their residential CRP in
first-year housing but quickly realized
Talking Stick - January/February 2019

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