Wednesday, September 20, 2017 // The Statement
4B
Wednesday, September 20, 2017 // The Statement 
5B

BEHIND THE LIE:

“It’s not alcoholism until you graduate”

b y A l e x a S t . J o h n, Managing News Editor
I

f I hadn’t already known that graduate 
student Ary — who requested her last 
name not be published — was recover-
ing from several years of alcohol and 

drug abuse, I wouldn’t have guessed it from 
her appearance. As we talked last Wednes-
day in my most comforting setting (the Daily 
newsroom) I quickly caught onto her dedi-
cation to her studies and noticed the bright 
smile on her face, much like that of any other 
student.

No matter the substance, college students 

in recovery look and act as any other: walk-
ing the halls in a backpack and jeans, a pony-
tail or baseball cap, a cell phone in one hand 
and a textbook or coffee in the other. With 
my own perception of those in recovery 
inundated by dramatized depictions in the 
media, I realized I would have no idea if the 
person sitting next to me in my 10 a.m. was 
going through the same challenges as Ary.

As I spoke with her, I was quickly remind-

ed those in recovery are just like anybody 
else — and the negative stereotypes and mis-
conceptions that plague these students are 
keeping them from seeking help.

The stigmas attached to addiction are 

harmful to the recovery process. Ary said 
when her recovery began in the winter of 
2015, she sought help with University of 
Michigan Counseling and Psychological Ser-
vices — but getting there first was difficult.

*****
Ary began drinking in high school and 

experimenting with various pills and other 
substances to overcome anxiety and depres-
sion upon entering the University, where her 
substance abuse spiraled out of control.

“The big thing for me most of my time 

here was Adderall,” she said, adding that she 
felt her depleting mental health and drug 
abuse were tied.

A therapist at CAPS recommended she try 

attending Contemplators, a student group 
for those interested in talking about issues 
of alcohol and drug abuse. Though Contem-
plators is no longer a student organization, 
it has been replaced by other resources on 
campus.

Ary recalls it was during one of these ses-

sions that she first admitted to herself she 
was an addict.

“What became really obvious to me after 

a few sessions of that is that, many of these 
people looked like they would be able to 
use the tools from the group to control or 
limit their drinking and using and for me, it 
became really clear that that just wasn’t pos-
sible,” she said.

She became afraid and stopped going to 

the group.

“That was scary. It was, ‘Fuck, I have this 

thing that is only going to get worse and it’s 
already pretty bad,’ and then also the stig-
ma of, ‘Now, if I ever want to treat it, that’s 
acknowledging it and therefore I get that 
label of being an addict,” Ary said. “At this 
point, I would just go on big benders of three, 
four, five, six days of not sleeping and then I’d 
be drinking around the clock to counterbal-
ance all the stimulants.”

Even still, she was able to graduate on 

time, with honors in her program. But her 
recovery journey continues even today.

*****
Alcohol abuse on college campuses has 

become 
increasingly 
commonplace. 
To 

many, substance abuse looks like extreme 
cases of fatality or assault. But for others 
it’s an everyday, binge-drinking session that 
results in months or years of hiding liquor 
bottles and trying to piece together count-
less forgotten nights.

Roughly one in four college students 

report academic consequences — ranging 
from decreases in grades to missing classes 
— from drinking, according to the National 
Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 
and 20 percent of college students meet the 
criteria for an alcohol use disorder. Within 
the University of Michigan, a 2007 survey 
notes52 percent of undergraduates engaged 
in binge drinking within two weeks of being 
surveyed, as compared to 44 percent nation-
ally.

The abuse of opioids, opiates and prescrip-

tion medication has become more silent — 
yet is growing, and subsequently, becomes 
more dangerous. Opioids are synthetic 
drugs, while opiates are derived from the 
poppy plant.

Pill-sharing parties and a widespread 

opioid epidemic can quickly lead some to a 
vicious cycle of paying dealers and needing 
a fix, debt and overdose.

In August, President Donald Trump 

declared the opioid crisis a national state 
of emergency due to numbers stating the 
epidemic kills about 100 Americans daily. 
Even within Washtenaw County, opiate and 
opioid use has spiked, ultimately leading to 
the introduction of Naloxone — a life-saving 
drug capable of reversing the effects of an 
overdose — in police departments locally 
and nationwide. 

Social Work student David Awadalla told 

me how he first attended the University of 
Georgia, where he played on the lacrosse 

team until sustaining a sports-related injury.

Awadalla was prescribed opioid painkill-

ers, and at first, took them as prescribed.

“It made me comfortable in my own skin 

and I could study, or talk to my parents, or 
go out with friends and I felt confident,” 
Awadalla said. “Over time, my dependence 
on them grew and I started doing illegal 
things to obtain more pills.”

After two suspensions from the Universi-

ty of Georgia and spending time incarcerat-
ed, he was given another chance to graduate 
and then was accepted into the University 
of Michigan’s School of Social Work in fall 
of 2016. Last year, he interned with the Sub-
stance Abuse and Mental Health Services 
Administration within the U.S. Department 
of Health and Human Services. Awadalla 
has been helping others with similar issues 
ever since. 

*****
The more alcohol Ary consumed and the 

more drugs she took, the less she showed up 
to her post-graduation lab position on time, if 
at all. Her system stoked from so many stim-
ulants, Ary kept a bottle of gin next to her 
bed, slamming cupful after cupful every two 
hours to counterbalance the rush until 6 a.m.

After one final night abusing several sub-

stances, she sought an assessment from Uni-
versity Treatment Services — a division of 
Michigan Medicine’s psychiatric services.

“They had told me: ‘You’re definitely an 

addict and you’re definitely an alcoholic,’ 
and I was like, ‘Alcoholic? Everyone in col-
lege drinks like this, everyone’s grades suffer 
because of drinking, I only drink this much 
because I do too many drugs,’ ” Ary said.

She soon attended her first Alcoholics 

Anonymous meeting but suffered a relapse 
just 17 days later. Finally, a woman in one 
meeting told her about the Collegiate Recov-
ery Program, which aims to reduce the stig-
ma behind addiction and provides students 
with a supportive community in the recov-
ery process. Ary attended a meeting and has 
been sober for two and a half years since.

My first impression of LSA senior Mandy 

— who requested her last name remain anon-
ymous — was that she, too, was motivated in 
her school work and dedicated to helping 
others. Mandy had a similar experience, 
though she only seriously started drinking 
during Welcome Week her freshman year. 
For her, it rapidly became a bigger problem.

“I was nervous about being in a new place 

and insecure — I just felt more confident and 
it became this cure-all solution to every-
thing,” Mandy said. “I wasn’t 21 yet, but if I 
had been, it would have been literally all the 
time.”

Toward the end of her freshman year, 

Mandy went to meetings for AA and Stu-
dents for Recovery (a group similar to Con-
templators) in an attempt to curtail her habit. 
She found temporary relief, but she relapsed 
the following fall as academic and peer pres-
sures constantly loomed.

“I was trying so hard and was not able 

to do as well as I wanted, and of course the 
drinking didn’t help either,” Mandy said. 
“If I’m drinking before classes or missing 
class because I’m hungover, then I’d be upset 
about my grades so I would drink more or 
drink after an exam.”

Though she didn’t want to, Mandy with-

drew from the semester to take time off.

“I hated that I wouldn’t be graduating 

in four years and that I had to take time off 
and I thought I was a failure and all these 
things, but now, looking back, it was the best 
thing I could have done,” Mandy said. “I also 
thought I was better at hiding it than I was, 
but I definitely worried especially about my 
family finding out.”

“I just felt very lonely and isolated and 

I didn’t know how I would get through it 
or how I would turn 21 and stay sober,” she 
added.

This cycle of abuse continued until she met 

Matt Statman from the Collegiate Recovery 
Program when she returned to campus. The 
program changed everything regarding her 
recovery process.

*****
CRP was founded with the help of Wolver-

ine Wellness Director Mary Jo Desprez and a 
student in recovery, along with funding from 
UHS, CAPS and private donors. The CRP has 
introduced opportunities for sober events 
and recovery support to the University com-
munity. The CRP evolved from the Students 
for Recovery organization and has since 
become more accessible to the student body. 
Over the past year, for example, the group 
has held sober tailgates, birthday parties and 
a graduation for outgoing seniors.

Statman, director of the CRP, said the pro-

gram has helped hundreds of students cope 
with addiction. While alcohol and marijuana 
are the most commonly abused substances 
on the University of Michigan’s campus, the 
program has also seen students seeking help 
for opioid recovery.

One of Statman’s central goals is to ensure 

those in recovery feel comfortable with their 
environment — and through abstinence-
based programs, meetings and personalized 
recovery efforts — he believes recovery is a 
realistic goal.

“Primarily, what we’re designed to do is 

support students who are already embrac-
ing a recovery identity on campus,” Stat-
man said. “When you start to have a more 
visible recovery community, it’s attractive 
to people, especially people who are miser-
able with the status quo. If their relationship 
with substances is causing pain and misery, 
and they’re unable to change it on their own, 
being part of a community of students in 
recovery is attractive.”

Statman sees about 25 students regularly 

each semester, in addition to dozens who 
come for help on a less formal basis and gen-
erally need more direction as to where to 
start with their recovery process.

“My goal isn’t to get students sober, it’s 

to support those who are already sober and 
those who are highly motivated to make 
those changes that are required to get sober,” 
Statman said. “(It’s) really designed to sup-
port this very specific group of students who 
have this identity that is marginalized and 
often forgotten about.”

The peer support group within the CRP 

helps those in recovery cope with a campus 
culture that isn’t particularly conducive to 
recovery. Statman specifically singled out 
the high-pressure academic environment 

and unhealthy student behavior as drivers of 
this.

“For people in recovery, wellness might be 

especially important, because if they’re not 
taking care of their wellness, they are vul-
nerable to relapse. A culture like ours that 
places a value on being out of balance, not 
sleeping … that culture is also threatening,” 
Statman said. “We’re seeing huge numbers 
of students who are having a lot of emotional 
and mental health issues resulting from the 
culture on college campuses, and I think the 
idea that all that matters is academic success 
is harmful.”

Mandy — who was first enrolled in several 

demanding engineering courses — echoed 
Statman.

She added the stigma she first experienced 

while in recovery about a year ago has been 
somewhat removed as awareness has grown 
on campus. But she said she still believes 
there is a long way to go in terms of changing 
the negative misconceptions of those with 
addiction to spreading awareness about sub-
stance use and misuse.

“Hearing people talking about drinking 

and being like, ‘I’m such an alcoholic,’ and 
making light of it can be tough sometimes, 
and I’m just sitting there like — you have no 
idea,” Mandy said. “The saying, ‘It’s not alco-
holism until you graduate’ … it prevents peo-
ple from getting help sooner when they could 
use it or before things get more serious.”

*****
There are additional resources available 

on campus and locally for those struggling 
with a substance, or who just want informa-
tion on how to better manage their use.

Aside from individual wellness coaching 

made available through UHS, there’s the 
Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Pro-
gram, Brief Alcohol Screening and Inter-
vention for College Students, the Individual 
Marijuana Education Program and the Ann 
Arbor Campus-Community Coalition, a 
resource for both students and Ann Arbor 
residents in recovery.

BASICS and IMEP interventions are 

shorter-term interventions — a two-session 
alcohol and two-session marijuana screen-
ing and education discussions, respectively 
— sometimes mandated by the Office of 
Student Conflict Resolution to those who 
committed a related offense on campus, but 
many also attend of their own accord.

And though the University has no specific 

housing for those in recovery, substance-
free housing is available upon request. These 
environments host additional support for 
students choosing not to engage in substance 
use, a step further from traditional on-cam-
pus housing.

At an event last November that promot-

ed an open dialogue on opioid addiction in 
Washtenaw County, Mark Albulov, a residen-
tial therapist at Dawn Farm — an Ypsilanti-
based nonprofit with an outpatient center in 
Ann Arbor geared toward long-term drug 
and alcohol recovery — discussed the signifi-
cance of labeling addiction as a serious medi-
cal concern. 

“We want to … educate people that it is a 

medical disease,” Albulov said. “It’s not a 

moral failure, it’s not a criminal behavior, it’s 
a medical disease that has treatment.”

Despite the different options, to many 

students on campus, the CRP has steadily 
remained the best avenue through which to 
recover.

LSA senior Sophie — who requested her 

last name remain anonymous — first got into 
recovery one year ago. This in itself wasn’t 
easy.

“I hit my bottom, dropped out of classes 

and dug a little deeper until I ended up going 
to treatment,” Sophie said. “When I dropped 
out, I really didn’t imagine coming back. I 
couldn’t imagine very far ahead at that point 
in my life.”

It was a challenge not only to reach out, 

but also to find a place to fit.

“You’re stuck between these two sides — 

where you’re in treatment, and everyone is 
just focused on getting a part-time job, and 
one day at a time, and then there’s the other 
side where there’s Michigan students where 
their resume is five pages long and I felt stuck 
in the middle,” she said.

At the CRP, however, Sophie said she 

found a home.

“It was totally acceptable and understand-

able and even an act of courage to have taken 
time off of school to get your head straight,” 
Sophie said. “I don’t think I found any other 
community at Michigan where that was the 
perception, because as an outsider, there is 
stigma and even before I went to treatment 
and didn’t think I had a problem, I thought 
that that was going to be the low point of my 
life.”

Awadalla, also an intern with the CRP, 

says it the program has been the most impor-
tant part of his recovery.

“It’s cool to be able to come into a room 

with a bunch of other students who all 
are trying to accomplish the same thing,” 
Awadalla said. “Whenever we start doubting 
ourselves, someone else picks us up.”

Awadalla said he embraces his experi-

ences to help others, noting addiction’s non-
discriminatory nature.

“It’s such a big part of my story that I can’t 

even try to hide it,” Awadalla said. “It doesn’t 
discriminate — it doesn’t matter what race 
you are, what gender you are, what sex you 

are, what orientation you are, what your 
socioeconomic status it, it affects every-
body.”

Many of those interviewed brought to 

light the question of using the word “addict.”

“The term ‘drug addict’ — yes, I’m a drug 

addict, but sometimes now even still there’s 
a part of my brain that justifies it,” Ary 
said. “There’s something in that term that’s 
uncomfortable to be associated with.”

Destigmatizing the word “addict” is 

important, and Statman offered up the 
option of saying an individual “has addic-
tion.” On the other hand, however, Statman 
noted the importance of allowing those in 
recovery to accept the identities they want to 
best recover.

LSA senior Heather Martin watched her 

sister’s health and well-being decline as her 
addiction to opiates spanned seven years, 
something that came to a rapid halt one day 
with a fatal overdose.

Martin first opened up to the Daily about 

her family’s story last October. Now, more 
than three years after her sister Angie’s 
death, Martin and her family continue to 
maintain the organization Angel Wings for 
Angie, created in her sister’s honor, to pro-
vide local support for those in recovery.

“How can we expect these people (to 

recover),” Martin said last year, “if everyone 
just keeps looking at them and telling them 
that they’re not going to be anything, that 
that is all they’re going to be labeled with?”

*****
Statman believes providing these recovery 

resources on campus is a necessity.

“We owe it to our students who have this 

disorder to provide support for them when 
they come to campus or return to campus. 
It’s an indispensable piece of the alcohol and 
drug puzzle,” he said.

And for these students, receiving these 

recovery 
resources 
largely 
determines 

whether they will relapse.

“The quality of my life is completely dif-

ferent now,” Ary said. “There’s a lot I need 
to do every day to maintain my sobriety, and 
now that’s just a part of my life, but just see-
ing how much things can and have improved 
for me in two and a half years makes me real-
ly excited about what’s going to happen.”

 
 
 
 
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily

 
 
 
 
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily