‘No stigma here’: LVC creates campus house for recovering addicts

C.J. Holowach stands outside of Lebanon Valley College’s collegiate recovery house on College Avenue while holding Burger, a chihuahua/terrier mix who is a house pet. (Photo: By Daniel Walmer)

(Annville) — Alex’s response to the freedom and stress of freshman year in college was a parent’s worst nightmare – he drank and used drugs frequently, failed out of school and spent time couch-surfing at friends’ homes.

The 19-year-old student started to make progress in rehab this summer following an intervention, but returning to his previous college presented a problem.

“If I had gone back, I was going to be rooming with my drug dealer,” he said.

Alex is just one of an increasing number of students who are saddled with drug and alcohol addiction while attending college, where prevalent partying creates temptations. But for Alex, an opportunity unexpectedly presented itself.

He transferred to Lebanon Valley College and is one of six students living in a new collegiate recovery house on campus this fall dedicated specifically to students faced with addiction. The concept is rare at small liberal arts colleges, but people struggling with substance abuse say it’s necessary.

‘Just seven guys’

College-age drug addiction is more than just a number for LVC Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students Greg Krikorian, whose son is in recovery from addiction.

“I saw how a program like this could be really impactful for college-age students,” he said.

It’s starting out with just six residents in one men-only campus house, but Krikorian expects there will be enough demand to justify eventually expanding it.

“My wish is that we didn’t have to have it, and my hope is that we make it as big as we need to,” he said.

The program is overseen by recovery house manager C.J. Holowach of Wyomissing-based Caron Treatment Centers. A recovering opioid addict, Holowach knows he wouldn’t have succeeded if he had gone back to college while in recovery without structure, fellowship, connectedness and people holding him accountable.

Alec, 18 – whose last name, like Alex’s, has been withheld to protect his privacy – graduated from high school last spring but not before being charged with DUI. He felt he was making progress during court-mandated treatment at Caron but told Holowach that he was worried about how college could impact his recovery.

“I voiced my concern to C.J. how … all this work that I was putting in was going to be for nothing really, and how I would be too tempted with the environment I was in and I would kind of slack in my recovery,” he said.

Holowach arranged for him to become part of the new recovery house program at LVC.

To help with their recovery, students are required to have sponsors, meet regularly with a certified recovery coach, and attend three 12-step meetings per week and a weekly house meeting, Holowach said. They are drug-tested multiple times per week. There is also a red-flag system for professors to raise concerns if the students skip class or don’t turn in an assignment.

Otherwise, they go about their lives, attending classes with the rest of the college population. When Alec has talked with students and faculty members about his living arrangement, everyone has responded in a supportive way, he said.

“I feel like there’s no stigma here,” Holowach agreed. “We’re just seven guys who don’t drink or get high.”

Help is on the way

Between 2001-2010, the amount of people aged 18-24 seeking addiction treatment more than doubled,