More than 600 colleges across the U.S. are participating in National Alcohol Screening Day this Thursday as part of National Alcohol Awareness Month, but UF is not among them.
The 17th annual screening day is promoted by Screening for Mental Health, a nonprofit organization that aims to provide mental health and substance abuse resources to those who need it. Although UF isn’t participating this year, colleges that take part in the screening day offer free anonymous in-person and online assessments for students to help indicate alcohol problems, said Sue Thorn, Screening for Mental Health representative.
UF doesn’t have plans to participate in the screening day this year, but it is a possibility for the future, said Julia Varnes, a health promotion specialist at GatorWell.
“We are constantly re-evaluating our efforts and making revisions to programming to ensure that we are meeting UF student needs,” she said.
Thorn said it is important to get colleges involved with the screening day because there are skewed perceptions among students about how much and how often their peers consume alcohol.
“Our goal … is to link those in need with quality treatment resources on or off campus,” she said.
Samantha Rowland, a 21-year-old UF Chinese junior, said she thinks offering free alcohol screenings on UF’s campus would be beneficial to the Student Body.
“It would help some people realize that they have a problem, and once they realize that, they can take steps to fix it,” Rowland said.
[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 4/9/2014 under the headline "Colleges observe alcohol screening day"]
The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence sponsors alcohol awareness month to teach people about safe consumption.
