Educators and Health Professionals Gathered to Discuss Prevention

On March 14, Purchase College, SUNY welcomed more than 200 education and health professionals for Under the Influence: The Power of Prevention, a day-long conference to educate those who work with high school and college students with current information about substance use prevention and student support.

The event, which was presented by the Collegiate Alliance for Student Success and Prevention, included panels on the latest research related to prevention, recovery, and drug trends, while examining social and mental health implications.

Visit the website for the full schedule of the day.

New York Times bestselling author Johann Hari offered the Keynote discussion entitled Rethinking Addiction: Social Recovery in the Age of Loneliness.

The day also included a panel of higher education professionals who discussed Collegiate Recovery Programs. Speakers included Lisa Arnold, Fairfield University; Lisa Laitman, Rutgers University; Nicolas Sperry, Boston College; and Jonathan Beazley, UConn.

Jason Kilmer discussed A Mix of Strategies Is Best: Considering the Proper “Mix” of Evidence-Based Strategies to Address College Student Alcohol and Marijuana Use.

John Hamilton spoke on Evidence Based Prevention and Emerging Drug Trends in the College Age Population.

Lauren Johnson, chair of the Collegiate Alliance for Student Success and Prevention, said, “We are excited to provide information for the community about students in recovery and student at risk of substance misuse. We, as collegiate communities, have accommodations for other students who have special considerations, and these students in recovery or at risk are no different. It’s time we educate ourselves about how we can provide the most enriching learning environment for these students.”

About the speakers

Johann Hari is the author of The New York Times bestselling book Chasing the Scream, the product of his four-year, 12-country, 30,000-mile journey into the war on drugs. Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, explores three startling truths: Drugs are not what we think they are. Addiction is not what we think it is. And the drug war has very different motives to the ones we have seen on our TV screens. Hari’s viral TED Talk—viewed online now nearly 12 million times—based on the book, is a funny, fascinating, and moving look at the ways in which we turn to addiction as a response to conditions of isolation and disengagement in our lives. In his new book, the instant New York Times bestseller Lost Connections, Hari turns his empathetic lens onto depression, discovering, as with drugs and addiction, that everything he thought he knew was wrong.

Dr. Jason Kilmer currently serves as Associate Professor, and Assistant Director of Health & Wellness for Alcohol & Other Drug Education, at the University of Washington, continuing a 20-year affiliation with the Addictive Behaviors Research Center and the Center for the Study of Health and Risk Behaviors as an investigator on studies evaluating prevention and intervention efforts for alcohol and drug use by college students. Dr. Kilmer serves as the chair of the Washington State College Coalition for Substance Abuse Prevention and as the Substance Abuse Prevention Program Coordinator for Saint Martin’s University.

John Hamilton, LMFT, LADC is Liberation’s President and Chief Executive Officer. A nationally- renowned expert in the addiction field, John is widely regarded as an innovative leader. Having served as the agency’s Senior Vice President from 1996 to 2006, John returned to Liberation Programs from Mountainside Treatment Center where he was the Chief Clinical Outreach Officer. In addition, John was the CEO of Bridgeport’s Recovery Network of Programs (RNP) for a decade. There, he was able to triple the size of the agency and exponentially increase its impact.

Lisa Arnold is the Director of the Collegiate Recovery Program at Fairfield University, where she has been employed for the last seventeen years. Lisa serves as chair of the CRP Advisory Board, which is responsible for opening the first Recovery House in Connecticut, and the first Jesuit Collegiate Recovery Program in the country.

Jonathan Beazley is the Alcohol and Other Drug Interventionist at the University of Connecticut and has served in this role since 2009. He is a licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor as well as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in the state of Connecticut and has been in the field of behavioral health since 1979. He earned his BA in Psychology at Penn State University and completed his Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy at Southern Connecticut State University. Throughout his career he has served in numerous clinical and supervisory roles across the spectrum of mental health and substance abuse organizations. He is a frequent presenter and educator on subjects associated with substance abuse and other mental health issues. He presently serves as the chairperson of the clinical advisory board at TriCircle Inc. in Wallingford, CT. Finally, he is the co-author of the 2018 book Cannabis on Campus: Changing the Dialogue in the Wake of Legalization. He also has a private practice in Glastonbury, CT.

Lisa Laitman is the Director of the Alcohol and Other Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) within Rutgers Student Health and CAPS. She is nationally recognized for her work in developing assessment and intervention services for students at risk for alcohol and other drug problems and for creating an on-campus recovery support community that includes the Recovery House. The Recovery House, in existence since 1988, is an on campus residence hall for students in recovery from addictions and is the first of its kind on a college campus in the United States. She is also a Senior Researcher with the Rutgers Center of Alcohol Studies, serves on the University Alcohol Policy Committee and the CAPS Leadership Group and has numerous publications. She has a thirty-year career in the substance abuse field as both an administrator and a clinician.

Nicolas Sperry is the Assistant Director of Recovery and Support Programs at Boston College. In his role he oversees initiatives that support students who identify as in recovery from substance dependence, students pursuing sobriety, non-drinkers, and those negatively affected by substance abuse within their families. He also serves as a live-in clinician and program manager for Recovery Housing at Boston College. Nicolas grew up in Tonopah, Nevada and graduated from Boston College with an undergraduate degree in Clinical Psychology and a graduate degree in Mental Health Counseling. He is licensed as a therapist in Massachusetts (LMHC) and has worked as a clinician at addiction treatment centers in the Boston area.

About CASSAP

The Collegiate Alliance for Student Success and Prevention assesses the needs for alcohol, tobacco and other drug use prevention and intervention at Purchase College and the surrounding community in order to improve student success and engagement in the college experience.

About Purchase College, SUNY

Purchase College, part of the State University of New York (SUNY) network of 64 universities and colleges, was founded in 1967 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller. His aspiration for Purchase was to create a dynamic campus that combined conservatory training in the visual and performing arts with programs in the liberal arts and sciences, in order to inspire an appreciation for both intellectual and artistic talents in all students. Today, Purchase College, SUNY is a community of students, faculty, and friends where open-minded engagement with the creative process leads to a lifetime of intellectual growth and professional opportunity. For more information about the College, visit www.purchase.edu.