The UF Collegiate Recovery Community is working to foster healthy relationships with alcohol this month.
The group is participating in Alcohol Awareness Month for the first time and most likely not the last, said Joan Scully, a licensed clinical social worker with the UF Counseling and Wellness Center.
The group is made up of students in various stages of recovery or who want to be supportive of those who are.
“There are some students who decide that they are better off not drinking, and we provide support and guidance,” Scully said.
Program assistants will be available for students to ask questions and reiterate the consequences of alcohol on the Plaza of the Americas on Tuesday through Thursday and April 16, 21 and 23. They will also be on the North Lawn on April 15.
There will be social events throughout the month as peer support, including a museum night Thursday and flag football on Flavet Field on April 16. Recovery anniversaries will be honored at the It Works! milestone celebration April 23 in Peabody Hall.
Recovery Nights, a weekly, alcohol-free meeting, also brings students together Thursdays from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in Peabody Hall.
Alicia Baker, a GatorWell health promotion specialist, said GatorWell does not currently have plans for Alcohol Awareness Month.
GatorWell will instead continue its normal programs, which include offering individual meetings and helping with campus coalitions and committees that focus on alcohol and alcohol-related problems.
Baker said many students are under the impression that heavy drinking is a part of the true college experience.
“In reality,” Baker said, “... misused alcohol can lead to alcohol poisoning, assault, personal injury, poor academic outcomes and other negative consequences.”
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 4/6/2015 under the headline “Recovery community to host events for Alcohol Awareness”]
