News

Counselors target drug abuse

In print | August 27, 2009

When Jason Kilmer, an expert on college student drug and alcohol use, gave a presentation on campus in the spring, a group of students felt that using his approach could fill the hole in campus substance counseling.

“Amongst other things, the [group of students] wanted to share the knowledge that they gained from him,” Assistant Director of Student Life Kelly Wilcox ’97 said. “He wasn’t preachy. He was very evidence-based.”

Wilcox is helping the group, which currently comprises 15 students and a few faculty members, begin the Drug and Alcohol Resource Team.

Much like the Sexual Health Counselors, DART is based on information and support.

“[DART is] a group working to address issues surrounding drug and alcohol use on campus, as well as act as a peer support system to any individual who has questions regarding these issues,” DART member Rosalie Lawrence ’12 said in an email.

The team is aimed at trying this approach in a number of student forums and when otherwise needed.

“The main goal of this group is to educate the campus, to be a resource for other students and, in particular, student leaders,” Wilcox said. “[DART members] want to be a resource to the campus. They want to provide students with just the facts in a nonjudgmental or preachy way.”
The group will be working closely with faculty members.

Such members include Alcohol Education and Intervention Specialist Tom Elverson ’75.
The group also wishes to work in conjuction with Worth Health Center.

Right now, the program is in the pilot stage. For three days during Orientation Week, the group will be meeting and breaking into small groups to discuss how it will handle issues and define the goals of DART.

Currently, members of DART agree planning workshops with incoming students and discussing how to hold workshops with different groups around campus.
Wilcox hopes the group can have a good relationship with all organizations so it can be called upon if needed, not forced upon them.

“We don’t want to say, ‘We think you need this,’” Wilcox said. “It comes across much differently if an administrator says this is student-generated and lead and marketed.”
The group will be doing a further expansion as it brainstorms more of its goals and has a set timeline.