University of Calgary opens Alberta's first on-campus addiction recovery space

The University of Calgary celebrated the grand opening of the UCalgary Recovery Hub, Alberta's first on-campus drop-in recovery space, at an event on Wednesday.

Led by the UCalgary Recovery Community (UCRC), the drop-in space is designed for students, faculty and staff seeking addiction support.

Located in the Yamnuska Hall student housing building, it offers substance-free events, peer support meetings and access to conversations with social workers. 

"Having this on campus, it's saying it's OK to be in recovery. It's OK to be struggling with addiction issues, whether that's behavioural or substance," said Tabitha Pruden, UCRC program coordinator.

"You can come here and find like-minded people who are also dealing with those same issues and so you can have that sense of community and belonging."

The hub aims to create "healthier relationship[s] to substances," by engaging students and staff in "harm reduction, AA, 12-step, abstinence," said a news release.

'Addiction does not discriminate'

The founder and director of the UCRC, Victoria Burns, is also an addiction-recovery researcher and associate professor with the university's Faculty of Social Work. 

"Having this space has been huge because we were doing everything online before and we really didn't see the impact in the same way," she said.

Burns added on-campus presence is critical for young adults in university who are surrounded by drinking culture and the everyday stressors of their studies.

"Addiction does not discriminate, but stigma does," said Burns, adding that she is in long-term recovery herself.

"I've learned that one of the most helpful things we can do is just be visible as a person in recovery. We need to show campus members that the path to recovery is worth pursuing."

The UCRC said its space has welcomed more than 200 campus community members since it first opened in October.

Andrew Szeto is a psychology professor at the university. He said there are no similar facilities elsewhere in the country.

"The UCRC has filled a gap that has existed for a long time related to recovering, creating a recovery-oriented space and programming at UCalgary, and generally addressing substance use and harm reduction." 

The recovery-friendly space is part of the University of Calgary's mental health strategy, directed by Szeto, which also includes wellness activities for students during final exams and optional suicide intervention training.

The Recovery Hub is funded in part by the students' union. It's open for drop-ins from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.