Recovery Groups gathered in the Memorial Student Center Apr. 12 to celebrate National Collegiate Recovery Day.  

The national event is sponsored by the Association of Recovery in Higher Education (ARHE). They celebrate the organization’s founding on Apr. 15 in 2010, marking the week of Apr. 11 through the 15 as Collegiate Recovery Week. The group also adopted the #wearpurple in support of the day’s events.  

The Collegiate Recovery Community (CRC) on campus has helped students struggling with addiction for 3 years. Rebecca Tomblin, a peer recovery support specialist, said the event welcomed organizations and students to learn and grow from the groups present.  

“We’ve got outside sources,” Tomblin said. “We have a lot of recovery organizations together so that we can promote this on campus and to help individuals—we want students to get engaged with the community. So that’s what this is all about and promoting collegiate recovery day too.” 

The event also featured guest speakers, Ryan Elkins and Deeidra Edmunds, who shared their stories. 

The CRC is currently located inside the Memorial Student Center in room 2W16A. They run programs designed to help students reach their full potential through non-judgmental and inclusive peer groups, ally training, volunteer opportunities and more. Their presence on campus has included weekly group meetings either in person or online, as well as Naloxone training for any interested students.  

Coming up is the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration’s (SAMHSA) National Prevention week, set from May 8 to 14.  

“We were going to try to do something for SAMHSA’s prevention week. We don’t know exactly what yet, but we are going to do something for prevention,” Tomblin said.  

The group hopes to continue to helps students in any way they can and encourages anyone interested to get involved.