By ANDREA LOPEZ
Multimedia Editor
(WARRENSBURG, Mo., digitalBURG) — A new organization at the University of Central Missouri called Recovery Central aims to help those who are in, seeking or contemplating recovery from alcohol or drug addiction.
In 2006, when Adriatik Likcani, assistant professor of child and family development, co-founded an agency in town called Recovery Lighthouse, he served as a counselor to a college population. His work in Warrensburg sparked his interest in starting a collegiate recovery group at UCM.
“I think every college should have this service available,” he said. “We know that addiction does not discriminate based on age, or status, it’s not just about high school dropouts or those people who don’t go to college that become addicted. Anyone can be assaulted by addiction.”
After Nicholle Scheibe, co-founder and student volunteer of Recovery Central, finished watching the documentary “The Anonymous People” in Likcani’s family and addiction class, she said she was inspired to get involved.
“I emailed him that night, this big ole page of ideas of what that could look like here and we just started meeting and Sadie Purinton, the co-founder, she just happened to be having a meeting with Adriatik the same day and she was part of it too, so that was where it started, the three of us outlining what we thought a collegiate recovery organization would look like at UCM.”
Likcani emphasized how addiction is a young people’s disease.
“Most people that become addicted start at high school and for some, unfortunately, even younger – but especially college and all the way up to the age of about 25,” he said. “Very few people pick up drugs or alcohol after the age of 25 or 30. Most of them, it’s during this time when they’re in college.”
Once they were established on campus in Fall 2014, Recovery Central became an official organization.
The organization was moving along until the majority of the board and members graduated. After that, they had to basically start over from scratch.
One of their first initiatives in getting their name out was hosting a Poker Run fundraiser on Sept. 12, 2015, for veterans in recovery.
“It (was) kind of like a way to show that people in recovery do more than just sit in basements,” Schiebe said. “It’s getting it out there that people in recovery do a lot and we’re helping each other out. It’s a community.”
Josh Knight, senior childhood and family development major and member of Recovery Central, said when addiction starts negatively impacting someone’s life, they need recovery.
“Not everyone who drinks is an alcoholic,” he said. “Not everyone who smokes is a pothead. But if it’s affecting their life enough that they need it or they can’t function without it, or they can’t go to school – they can’t be a functioning part of the community.”
From speaking with other universities that have collegiate recovery programs – like the University of Missouri in Columbia – Schiebe said she sees how having this type of organization at UCM will be beneficial to the student body.
“Some students, if they’re in recovery, they might not even want to go to college because they’re worried about the environment and being at risk,” she said. “So we want to be a safe place and be able to talk with each other. And be able to be a college student and in recovery – not having to make that choice.”
While there may be various resources off campus, Schiebe said Recovery Central is different.
“There is (Alcoholics Anonymous) and (Narcotics Anonymous) in the community, but college students have different problems and different things they want to discuss, so it’s giving them their own little community of people that understand them so they can help each other,” she said.
The future of the organization lies in the hands of the students who utilize the group. Since it’s fairly new, there’s no legitimate structure.
“We’ve done all the footwork, the legwork, and everything is in place for it to be a standing campus organization for as long as the school stands,” Knight said. “All we need are the people – the students.”
While some college recovery groups tend to borrow traditions from self-help groups like AA and NA, where they require people to confess they have a problem to be an active member, Likcani said Recovery Central is unique in the sense of the organization’s openness.
“It’s an open group, nobody has to disclose that I am an addict to be here or I am an alcoholic or I am struggling or I am experimenting with drugs – and they go and the first step is really to get to know one another,” he said. “Like every group, it has to evolve and it has to develop – and part of it is forming those relationships.”
While the group is trying to grow its numbers, Likcani said the organization’s two main focuses are alerting students that the group is here and developing relationships with those who come.
“The person that may be new and coming in for help, they’re looking for a few things: is this a safe place for me to be? Can I share openly and know that whatever I share here will not be used against me?” he said.
This student-led group is not to be confused with personal counseling sessions.
“Addiction is unique to everybody,” Schiebe said. “So recovery is going to be unique too. You don’t have to be sober or clean. If you have trouble, a problem with pills, we’re not going to say, ‘OK, you can never drink.’ We aren’t telling people what to do or diagnosing them with a substance abuse disorder or anything like that.”
Likcani agrees with Schiebe’s line of thinking.
“This is not a treatment center; this is just a support group of students,” Likcani said. “The more people talk about it, the more people are open to it. The more helpful it will be to those who may be still struggling and be in need of help.”
With their connections on campus with the UCM office of Violence and Substance Abuse Prevention and the UCM office of Mentoring, Advocacy and Peer Support, Recovery Central student leaders can refer members to other resources on campus that may be more beneficial depending on their circumstances.
For more information about Recovery Central, visit the group’s Facebook page.