{"id":713,"date":"2025-10-10T10:32:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T14:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/vest\/?p=713"},"modified":"2025-10-10T10:33:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T14:33:08","slug":"professor-imparts-value-of-collegiate-recovery-services-at-congressional-briefing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/vest\/2025\/10\/10\/professor-imparts-value-of-collegiate-recovery-services-at-congressional-briefing\/","title":{"rendered":"Professor Imparts Value of Collegiate Recovery Services at Congressional Briefing"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 48 million Americans report that they have\u00a0<\/span>experienced<\/a>\u00a0challenges with drugs or alcohol within the past year. As overdose deaths\u00a0<\/span>appear<\/a>\u00a0to be rising again after a short-lived decline in 2024, improving and expanding recovery services that help people avoid relapsing remains a public health priority. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Noel Vest<\/a>, assistant professor of community health sciences, joined a group of experts in substance use and recovery to call attention to this issue during a July 17 Congressional briefing at the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n

Led by\u00a0<\/span>The Friends of the National Institute on Drug Abuse<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>(NIDA), highlighted advances in recovery research, featured opening remarks by Paul Tonko, US Representative for New York\u2019s 20th district.<\/p>\n

Vest, who studies public policy and social justice issues about recovery and prison reentry, spoke about the need to sustain and expand collegiate recovery programs (CRPs), which can serve as lifelines for college students recovering from substance misuse. He also spoke about his own\u00a0<\/span>past experiences<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>with substance use and incarceration, and how these experiences informed and strengthened his work as a scholar now celebrating 23 years of recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI, and many other people, are living proof that when recovery services are delivered with intention\u2014and especially in collegiate settings\u2014they don\u2019t just save lives, they change them,\u201d Vest said during the briefing. \u201cThese programs gave me and many other people not only the chance to survive, but to thrive. \u2026These programs also train the next generation of professionals who can lead with their shared experience of addiction and recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hearing also included presentations by\u00a0<\/span>Nora Volkow<\/a>, director of NIDA;\u00a0<\/span>John Kelly<\/a>, Elizabeth R. Spallin Professor of Psychiatry in Addiction Medicine at Harvard Medical School and founder and director of the Recovery Research Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital; and\u00a0<\/span>Aaron Hogue<\/a>, senior vice president of research and clinical science\/family and adolescent clinical technology and science at Partnership to End Addiction.<\/p>\n

The speakers highlighted the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for treating or preventing substance use disorder\u2014a complex condition that often requires a combination of clinical treatment and a variety of long-term support from clinicians, peers, colleagues, friends, and families.<\/p>\n

Alcohol and drug misuse, both leading causes of preventable death, have\u00a0<\/span>risen<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>sharply in the US over the last three decades, with even steeper rises during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recovery can take on many forms, from coaching and peer support, to housing, community centers, and educational and employment resources.<\/p>\n

CRP services, in particular, are uniquely tailored to\u00a0<\/span>support<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>college students as they navigate the drinking and party culture that is a hallmark of the typical college experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cCollege is a tough atmosphere to try and reduce or stop using substances, generally,\u201d Vest said in his remarks. \u201cMore specifically, underage drinking remains a unique public health challenge in the US where\u2014despite it being illegal for most college students\u2014it is often socially tolerated and culturally normalized, so that not using drugs and alcohol\u2026is seen as\u00a0<\/span>radical<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>in this environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite their value and growth on college campuses over the last several years, CRPs are critically underfunded and risk losing additional funding due to the Trump administration\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>sweeping cuts<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>to federally funded research and other programming at universities, as well as Supreme Court-sanctioned\u00a0<\/span>layoffs<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>at the Department of Education. Vest recently led a study that presented the first\u00a0<\/span>comprehensive assessment<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>of CRPs, finding that these programs are most successful when they are funded by multiple sources. Well-funded CRPs were also more likely to offer dedicated community spaces, provide relapse management policies, and provide harm reduction and mutual-aid meetings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe future of students in recovery\u2014and the broader health of our academic communities\u2014depends on our willingness to act,\u201d Vest wrote in a\u00a0<\/span>recent op-ed<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>about these findings. \u201cThe time to act is now. We must prioritize long-term diversified funding solutions for CRPs nationwide. No student should have to choose between their education and their recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than 48 million Americans report that they have\u00a0experienced\u00a0challenges with drugs or alcohol within the past year. As overdose deaths\u00a0appear\u00a0to be rising again after a short-lived decline in 2024, improving and expanding recovery services that help people avoid relapsing remains a public health priority. \u00a0 Noel Vest, assistant professor of community health sciences, joined a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23375,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/vest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/vest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/vest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/vest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23375"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/vest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=713"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/vest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":715,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/vest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713\/revisions\/715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/vest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/vest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/vest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}