Over the past decade, as the opioid epidemic turned into an even deadlier fentanyl epidemic, many colleges developed and implemented collegiate recovery programs “designed to provide an educational opportunity alongside other recovery supports to ensure that students do not have to sacrifice one for the other” (ARHE, 2024). As Nichols et al. (2025) relate, “Descriptive and observational research suggests that CRPs tend to reach the most at-risk students.”

This session will review active collegiate recovery programs and discuss their implementation for our own institutions. In addition, we will convene to share ideas about how to use the classroom as a venue to help students in recovery. Specifically, how can we use the "soft skills" we teach in literature, composition, film, creative writing, and other classes to speak to students in recovery?

Also, as we non-traditional students increasingly turn to asynchronous online programs, we should explore how to leverage digital tools, such as discussion boards, to transform general education courses into spaces that better serve students in recovery while maintaining academic rigor. This approach aligns with broader efforts to reinvent general education for an increasingly diverse and digital-first student population.