Teresa Herzog (left) during a CRP naloxone training session last semester. By bringing AA meetings to campus, the CRP continues to offer services for students struggling with substance use disorders. Ruby Go | Washtenaw Voice
By: Ruby Go
Editor
Starting this semester, WCC’s Collegiate Recovery Program will host weekly Alcoholics Anonymous meetings on campus.
The meetings will take place every Wednesday from noon-1 p.m. in BE 174 and are “closed”, meaning they are only available to those with the desire to stop drinking. Prospective attendees do not need to be a WCC student or staff member to attend, and there is no need to sign up.
“For me, the journey started because I didn’t know where to turn,” said Gil R., a volunteer for WCC’s CRP and AA member who helped bring the meetings to campus. “It all started coming apart on me once I reached the point of no return.”
Gil has been sober since 1994. He started drinking as a teenager and did not become sober until he was 40. He says his drinking habits interfered with his relationships with his children and now ex-wife, and joining AA helped turn his life around.
“I was able to repair the bridges I had burned with my family…I was able to start learning how to function and live like everyone else,” he said.
Around 9% of full-time college students ages 18-22 meet the criteria for past-year alcohol use disorder, according to a national survey done in 2019. However, as many as one in four full-time college students report struggling with academics due to drinking.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, WCC offered AA meetings, but they were forced to come to a halt with the onset of the pandemic. Teresa Herzog, coordinator for the CRP, says there has been a high demand from CRP members for the meetings to return, and she expects there to be a high turnout.
“It’s extremely helpful to be around folks who share a similar lifestyle and are really working on their recovery,” Herzog said.
Many people struggling with alcohol addiction may be hesitant to join AA because they think it is a religious organization, but instead it focuses more on spirituality, Herzog said.
“(AA) is not religious. It is spiritual. For folks in recovery, the spiritual part is what binds all of us,” Herzog said.
While AA’s Twelve Step program does reference God and a “higher power,” Gil says a higher power does not have to mean God. It just has to be something “outside of yourself.”
“I cannot play God or whatever you want to call it. I have to have something else be my higher power,” he said.
Herzog wants students who may be struggling with a substance use disorder to know that there are resources available to help them. To learn more about the CRP, contact Herzog at therzog@wccnet.edu or (734) 318-0785.
For help outside of WCC, you can find AA meetings in the community here.
For help outside of WCC, you can find AA meetings in the community at https://hvai.org/index.html.
