The Recovery Friendly Pledge
Helping UK universities become recovery friendly environments
Why a Recovery Friendly Pledge in the UK?
For more than 40 years, Collegiate Recovery Programmes (CRPs) have support students in recovery from addiction in US higher education. Now, universities and higher education establishments in the UK are embracing this innovative programme. Research has shown that students in CRPs perform better than those in the general student population.
Surrounded by a peer network of support, CRPs support students in recovery from any addiction, and others affected by addiction in the family. We have created a simple pledge, already signed by three universities, that can create the building blocks of this effective support service, dedicated to student wellbeing.
Creating the pledge
To help universities establish recovery-friendly programmes on campus, consultation with staff and students at three UK universities helped the charity to create the Recovery Friendly Pledge.
This entails a series of 10 simple commitments that any University could make, in order to establish recovery-friendly environments for students, and any staff in recovery.
Making 10 simple commitments
Participants from Recovery Connections, the Universities of Teesside, Birmingham, and Chester worked together to create the pledge. In subsequent years, it was signed by both Teesside and Chester, following the first University to commit, in 2022, the University of Sunderland.
The Pledge has since become an excellent guide for university decision makers at each university, as they put in place the core elements of recovery friendly university practices.
Recovery Friendly Universities in the UK
The first university to commit to becoming Recovery Friendly, Sunderland recently hosted the region’s first official Collegiate Recovery event. Dr Tom Kimball (pictured), from Texas Tech University, joined us to be part of this momentous occasion in November 2022, and presented at the University’s Mental Health event, which involved introducing and signing the Pledge.
Signing in March 2023, Chester became the second University to begin embedding a CRP within its wider student support service. Dr Wendy Dossett had been part of the original focus group, alongside several of her University’s own students, and signed the Pledge on behalf of Chester University.
After becoming the first University in the UK to have a CRP on campus, Teesside extended its commitment and signed the pledge in late 2023. There has been a member of Recovery Connections supporting students on the University campus, in Middlesbrough, since 2019.
Making the Pledge on your campus
Signing the Recovery Friendly Pledge creates a commitment that universities will:
Raise awareness and educate students and staff about recovery.
Actively address and challenge the stigma of people in recovery.
Ensure that there are opportunities to increase the visibility of recovery within our university and to ensure that recovery is valued and celebrated.
Ensure that there are recovery friendly events at our university.
Ensure that barriers to our university for people in recovery are addressed.
Promote and support opportunities for people in recovery to support others in recovery.
Provide a recovery hub within the university, which will be regarded as a safe space for people in recovery, which will be the focal point for people in recovery to build community.
Ensure that our Wellbeing and Student Support Teams are aware of the needs of people in recovery and have the appropriate knowledge and referral information for onward signposting and support to meet the needs of people in recovery.
Ensure that accommodation options meet the needs of people in recovery.
Ensure that we increase our awareness of the needs of families and loved ones of people in recovery.
