Fit2BTide S05.E03: Recovery Month - What is addiction and recovery?

[00:00:16] Speaker A: Happy Sunday, y', all, and welcome to Fit to be Tied with Sheena and Whitney. [00:00:20] Speaker B: Hello. [00:00:20] Speaker A: It is another hot one. I feel very confident saying, like, it's so hot. [00:00:25] Speaker C: It's. I'm. You know, I don't like cold weather, but I'm actually ready for fall. Like, I'm actually ready to not sweat all the time. [00:00:32] Speaker A: Yes. I'm ready for, like, the crispness of the air. And I'm one of those weirdos that likes the smell of, like, burning leaves or. Really? Yeah. Barbecue pit. Something about the smokiness. Like, not anything like cray cray, but, I don't know, just something about the, like, nice smokiness of. [00:00:52] Speaker C: If I could barbecue some tofu, I might get into it. [00:00:56] Speaker A: Fair. Fair. [00:00:57] Speaker C: I don't eat things with faces, so that usually freaks me out, but yeah. So we were on the air last. Cause we had a Labor Day weekend. [00:01:05] Speaker A: I know. So, I mean, we have a lot to talk about. Yeah. So I haven't seen you in a week. So how's it been? [00:01:10] Speaker C: I'm okay. I'm good. Yeah, I'm good. Wellness week was last week. [00:01:15] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:01:15] Speaker C: Glow yoga. What else did we do? [00:01:17] Speaker A: We also did our presentation on financial wellness. We had the labyrinth. We had a huge turnout at the student health fair. But of course, it was hot that day, too. But our students are troopers. [00:01:28] Speaker C: They are. [00:01:29] Speaker A: Yeah. And so I'm hoping, though, that we can continue to just educate our UA community about the importance. Importance of hydration. Because, you know, that first football game that we had, the home football game, I think I read over a hundred people had passed out from the heat and had to get serviced in the first eight, ten. [00:01:46] Speaker C: From the heat. You say from the heat. [00:01:49] Speaker A: You know, we've got metal bleachers, heat index over. So all the things. [00:01:54] Speaker C: All the things. All the things. Well, I'm really excited for our show today because we are honoring and talking about recovery month. [00:02:01] Speaker A: Yes. [00:02:01] Speaker C: We have two special guests that we're gonna bring on a little bit later. So I'm excited. Cause that kind of hits home for me and my. So that'd be kind of fun to talk about. [00:02:09] Speaker A: Absolutely. And if you're a new listener to our show, Fit to Be Tied is all about wellness. We have Whitney as our fitness guru, myself as nutrition guru. But we have so many gurus on campus with the different facets of wellness. And I really like how we take a very holistic approach to all of us, too. [00:02:29] Speaker C: We look at all the aspects. And I think Dr. Perez, he came and spoke at our staff meeting. A couple of weeks ago and we looked at our whole model, our wellness model, and we're like, well, how does UREC fit into this? We fit in almost, almost to all of it. But that's what's so great about student life is we have all these different resources and categories that can bring the whole aspect of wellness to our students. [00:02:49] Speaker A: Exactly. And if you missed our show where we talk specifically about that Alabama wellness model in each of those different sectors, you can actually. [00:02:57] Speaker C: Is that our last show that we just did? [00:02:59] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. [00:03:00] Speaker C: Oh, my gosh. I forget. [00:03:01] Speaker A: Because we broke it down, you know, and if you miss that, you can catch us on AudioBoom. Audioboom.com channel WVUAFM was awesome. [00:03:11] Speaker C: One day I will learn it. [00:03:13] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm gonna say it next time. [00:03:14] Speaker C: Wait, audioboom. What is it? [00:03:16] Speaker A: Audioboom.com audioboom.com channel channel WVUAFM. [00:03:21] Speaker C: WVUAFM. [00:03:23] Speaker A: Yes. [00:03:23] Speaker C: Got it. [00:03:24] Speaker A: Yes. Yes. [00:03:25] Speaker C: That'll be my homework. I will practice saying that. We will come up with a wrap together. [00:03:29] Speaker A: We will. [00:03:29] Speaker B: We should. [00:03:30] Speaker C: I think we should do it. [00:03:32] Speaker A: That's when we will go like full blown on the social media having to do that. So I don't know, but do you feel like you gotten into the swing of things with the semester? [00:03:40] Speaker C: Because now I think so. [00:03:41] Speaker A: We've got a couple weeks under our belt. [00:03:43] Speaker C: Yes, I feel good about it. Ready for Christmas break? I'm just kidding. I love everybody. Ready for Christmas break? No, I'm just playing. But no, I'm in a good swing. How about you? [00:03:56] Speaker A: I am too. And I feel like our students are too, you know, now they're getting acclimated to their schedules. Because I've had a lot of conversations with my patients lately about, okay, do you have a game plan with your eating? Like, now they know, like, okay, which dining hall am I. Do I have time to go back to my apartment when are we working in some physical activity? So those are a lot of the conversations that I've had with my patients recently. Now that they have a true idea of what their schedule looks like. Because we're, you know, we're past. [00:04:25] Speaker C: You're locked into your classes now. [00:04:26] Speaker B: You can't. [00:04:27] Speaker A: No more drop ads. So that, to me, I think is really good. So I'm excited to see what the rest of the semester brings. Hopefully some cooler weather. Yes. My little. My son has this really cute Alabama bomber jacket that I want him to wear, but I think he's gonna grow out of it before he can actually approach. But anyways, Y'. All. Okay, we have to take a quick break. We have some amazing guests today, as we always do. But because it is still so hot, go grab something to drink. Something nice and cool and nice cold water. Yeah, maybe a snack. Maybe some ice cream. Yeah, Very weather appropriate, but we're taking a quick break. You are listening to Fit to Be Tied with Sheena and Whitney on 90.7 the Capstone. Welcome back. You're listening to Fit to Be Tied with Shana and Whitney on 90.7 the Capstone. And if you are just now joining us, Whitney and I were talking about the hot weather. We've been talking about people passing out in the stadium. We were talking about grabbing a snack of ice cream. But you also may remember before the break, Whitney mentioned that September is recovery month, which is a total inspiration for our guests today. [00:05:46] Speaker B: It is. [00:05:47] Speaker C: We're super excited to have our guests. So we have some folks from Collegiate Recovery coming over or actually not coming over. They're here now. [00:05:53] Speaker B: I don't even know. [00:05:54] Speaker A: See, y'. [00:05:54] Speaker C: All. I need some water. Y' all are gonna have to, like, have me a cooler of water producer. Can I get some water? I'm just kidding. We have Jaime Garza, coordinator of recovery services, and Hillary Groover does say no. Grover Groover? No. [00:06:08] Speaker A: It's groovy. [00:06:09] Speaker B: Isn't Groover. [00:06:09] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:06:10] Speaker C: Did I put that wrong on my sheet? Program manager. Anyway, welcome. Thank you for coming to our show. [00:06:15] Speaker B: Thank you for having us. [00:06:16] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. First timers on the radio. [00:06:19] Speaker B: First time. [00:06:19] Speaker C: First time. [00:06:21] Speaker A: Perfect. Well, you know, Jaime, I know that you've been. How long have you been with us now? [00:06:28] Speaker D: I've been with the university for just over six years. [00:06:32] Speaker A: I can't believe that, because I remember when you guys joined, and then, Hillary, I know you're a little newer to the UA campus, and. So how long ago did you start at UA? [00:06:45] Speaker B: Yeah, so it'll be two years in January. So I came in January 2018. Actually, my first day on the job was the national championship game, and we won. [00:06:56] Speaker A: Lucky Char. We're doing hands, so visual it right now. Okay. So that's actually a great segue. Hillary, we'll start with you. Tell us a little bit about your title with the CRC and those job responsibilities, you know, your background prior to coming to ua. [00:07:14] Speaker C: Just basically, who are you? We want to know who you are. [00:07:17] Speaker A: Yes. [00:07:18] Speaker B: Who am I? [00:07:20] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:07:20] Speaker B: Well, I hail from Georgia, so came over from Atlanta, graduated from Kennesaw State University. And this is my first job in higher education. [00:07:27] Speaker C: Awesome. [00:07:28] Speaker B: It's been a Blast Thus far. I had some experience with collegiate recovery as an undergraduate student. And I also identify as a person in long term recovery from drug and alcohol use. And so that was really a tool that I used to successfully graduate sober and really became a proponent of it, really found the importance of it and what it can do and how it can change lives. And so I wanted to be a part of that professionally. And so when UA was seeking a new program manager, I applied, I came, I had a swell interview, and I got the job. So like I said, first day on the job, the championship. I've never been. Kennesaw State has a very. We had our inaugural football season in 2015. So it really opened my eyes to just the pageantry and the school spirit and really love that about the culture of ua. But yeah, I really think it's, you know, it's important to have a CRC on this type of campus as well. On all campuses. [00:08:23] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:08:24] Speaker B: So what do I do at the crc? I really, you know, the number one thing that has the most impact in a CRC is the peer support. And so I'm not a peer, so I don't, you know, where's my role in that is, you know, I kind of act as the parameters to, you know, keep the programming, keep the scheduling, keep the fun kind of flowing and the fellowship across the semester. And then pretty much the students work all the magic of the program. [00:08:48] Speaker A: Oh, I love that. [00:08:50] Speaker B: Yeah, really, you know, my job is to make sure there are no barriers. Right. And so I offer academic advising for all of our students, facility where they can come and study, where they can, you know, print out syllabus where they can come grab a snack, host an array of different events. You know, from bowling to laser tag to sober tailgate to, you know, service work in the community. And so really just keep a pulse on the community. Keep you kind of heard the cats of it all. You know, we've all got different ages and different majors and a lot of personalities. So really just keep the parameters and pulse of the community and help it just flourish is kind of my job in a nutshell. [00:09:30] Speaker A: That sounds like you just have just such a rewarding experience in all of that, especially being able to just witness these students go through life change during such an important time in their lives. So I think that that is amazing. And Jaime, tell us about you, your background, and for our listeners who may be new to what collegiate recovery is on a college campus, that term may be new to them. I'd love for you to elaborate on that, sure. [00:10:00] Speaker D: My role is, I'm a trained clinician. That's my background. So I come from the world of drug and alcohol treatment. And that's when we see people that have kind of got to kind of to the end of the road when it comes to their drinking and using. So it was kind of a shift for me when I came to a college campus that my percentage of what's going on in the college campus, everybody drinks and everybody smokes and everybody does heavy drugs. And that's not the reality. The reality is there's a lot of people on this campus that can control and enjoy their drinking at the same time. I don't know what that is because I'm also a person in long term recovery. So it was definitely a transition to see that. But what we did come up seeing is that people in long term recovery were having a hard time experience existing on a college campus just because of those perceptions and some of the actual drinking cultures that exist on any given college. So what we ended up doing is we created a program that was designed to help people kind of get back on track. And that was actually the name of the program when we first started. It was back on track, getting people that were getting into some trouble with the university or with law enforcement to help them learn from their mistakes. But then we started working hand in hand with another program called Collegiate Recovery. And so we now have two programs that have been combined together. We hired an amazing executive director, his name is Dr. Gerard Love, and he's been coming here to kind of really help with the vision of marrying these two programs. So now I'm over the coordinator position for Collegiate Recovery. And it's been an amazing process to watch students who never believe that they can ever come back to school to actually have a home base where they can feel protected, supported and pushed. Because that's something that we, as a culture of people try to do. We put on our kid gloves and we want to treat them very softly because we believe that they are fragile. And it is actually the opposite case. They are very strong and resilient. So they need a little love, they need a little support, but they also need a little bit of encouragement. I think that's what we do really, really well at the Collegiate Recovery community. [00:12:18] Speaker C: I have to say, every time I come over to teach yoga for you guys, it's the coolest atmosphere. I walk in, I'm like, I wish my office was over here because you've got the back room where everybody's hanging out. And like, it's a family, like everybody supports each other, they're checking out for each other and you need that, that type of environment. So it's if those of you that are listening, you know, if you have any type of struggles and you need a place to go, I mean, definitely check out the CRC because like I said, they all, every time I walk in, I'm like, man, y' all have the coolest community here. [00:12:50] Speaker A: I know. And you know, I know. Jaime, you were mentioning, you guys build this experience so that they are able to have the college experience just substance free. And I know a little bit later in the show we're going to talk about some of those offerings and what that looks like. But Jaime, where were you before coming to the University of Alabama? What's your educational background as far as where you, you went to college? [00:13:14] Speaker D: Sure. So my background is I was a collegiate athlete. So I got recruited to play at UCLA for football. And then that's when kind of my addiction took over and I lost my full ride scholarship. And then I end up kind of, you know, living life on life's terms for about six years. And then I went back to a community college where I started learning about drug and alcohol studies. It was a little community college. And then I went and got an online degree through Argosy University in psychology. And then eventually that led me to wanting to get a master's degree and I got that in business administration. And now I'm concluding hopefully soon, crossing my fingers that I will have my PhD come in next year. [00:13:59] Speaker C: That's a lot of work. Yeah. [00:14:00] Speaker A: I need to get used to calling you Dr. Garza. [00:14:02] Speaker C: Yeah. Dr. G. Dr. G. Oh, that's right. [00:14:05] Speaker A: Tell us what you want, that nickname that you want. [00:14:10] Speaker B: Well, we are going to come up [00:14:11] Speaker C: on a break pretty soon, but what are some fun events just in the vicinity or coming up that our listeners can get excited about? [00:14:20] Speaker B: Yeah. So every home game we have a huge sober tailgate right on the quad. If you're looking at Denny Chimes and the president's mansion is behind you, we are to the right. Look for a big bouquet of yellow balloons that we have that just kind of our signal to the community that we're in recovery. We're partying hard, but we are partying sober and to get over here and start fellowshipping with us. So those are awesome. Even if you aren't in recovery, though, stop by, grab a soda, you know, check out the vibe, check out the community before you go to the game. And then also, you know, in honor of National Recovery month. We are doing a run for recovery 5K. And that's gonna be, you know, a big fundraiser for our student support service fund, as well as a really cool way to, you know, come out, fellowship and also, like, exercise and have fun. And that's Sunday, September 29th at 2pm it will not affect football. [00:15:15] Speaker C: We just have to make sure we. [00:15:17] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:15:18] Speaker C: That's awesome. [00:15:19] Speaker B: It was big. So, yeah, that's another huge one coming up. [00:15:21] Speaker C: Well, we are gonna take a quick break. We've got so much more to talk about. But you guys, as Sheena always says, grab a quick drink, maybe go to the restroom. I'll say grab the ice cream. Cause y' all know that's my jam. You're listening to Fit to be tied with Sheena and Whitney on 90.7 the capst. Welcome back to Fitz. Be tied with Sheena and Whitney on 90.7 the Capstone. Take 500. I'm just kidding. We are glad you guys are listening to our show today, and we have some awesome guests on talking about recovery month and addiction and what that looks like and our services here at UA and on campus. You know, we just want to take care of all you guys. And so we're trying to give you as much information as we have. [00:16:14] Speaker A: Absolutely. And it gives us an excuse to just have some fabulous people from campus on the show. [00:16:19] Speaker B: So there you go. [00:16:22] Speaker C: Well, we were talking a little bit about the events and things that you guys have going on, which we'll talk more about. But let's talk about, like, what addiction is, because I think, you know, some of our listeners may be curious, and maybe they're struggling with a couple of things, or they know a roommate or a family member, and maybe they just need a little bit more information. So addiction. What is it? [00:16:42] Speaker D: So addiction is a mass undertaking. So it can be very scary to even think that I would even be considered in the category of addiction. But addiction is an entire spectrum which we call substance use disorder. Once you have crossed the threshold into addiction, there's kind of like a formal hijacking of the brain. We see a lot of people who are considered addicts or alcoholics who do some very. They do some acts that would be considered immoral. Whether you're stealing money from your family or you're hurting the ones you love, they're not doing that by choice. They're doing that because the brain has been hijacked where their substance of choice has become life and death. That's like saying, if I were going to Walmart and I Haven't. My family hasn't eaten in two weeks, and I see a rotisserie chicken there. I have no money. What am I going to do? It's life and death. I'm going to steal that chicken. It doesn't mean I'm an immoral person. It becomes a moment of survival. So when we get to substance use disorder, a lot of people may feel like they don't need to engage in any kind of recovery practices because they haven't reached those stages yet. And what we try to tell people is, like, when you look at something like cancer, you know, when is the best time to treat cancer? It's usually pretty early on. And so if you start seeing yourself having some symptoms of substance use disorder, whether you told yourself you weren't going to drink that much tonight, and all of a sudden you found yourself crossing the limit or blacking out or doing things that you said you wouldn't do, those are pretty early signs that you are in substance use disorder. And you could potentially head in the direction of addiction. But obviously no same person would wait till the last stages of a cancer to seek help. But the good thing about recovery is that you can start at any point. You know, if you just feel like, I'm not enjoying drinking and using, but it's just kind of the culture and I don't want to do that. You are eligible for recovery. So everybody is eligible for addiction, but everybody is also equally eligible for recovery at any point in any stage. [00:18:47] Speaker C: And I think it's. It's really interesting because a lot of. If you don't know what addiction is, or if you've never had any type of interaction with that, whether it's yourself or family members, you can have such a not right mindset about it. You think, oh, well, why don't they just quit? Why are they stealing? And I'm like, but you don't understand. Like you said, it's life or death. At that point, you're gonna do whatever you can because that's the only thing that's on your mind. I remember my brother saying, I think because he's in recovery and he's doing well. So, like five years, we're excited. But saying, like, the moment it happened when he was on the bathroom floor and he was literally like, I don't want to do this, but I have to do this. Because it was just like, that's his own. His only choice he had was whatever, shooting up or whatever he was doing. And so it's just. It's interesting. I think people need to learn more about that because sometimes people just like with anything, they can have a very, like, uneducated, kind of standoffish way of looking at it. And it's a disease. I mean, it really affects. It can take over, you know? Right. [00:19:51] Speaker D: And when people get scared when they listen to words like disease. [00:19:54] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. [00:19:54] Speaker D: But we try to really break that word into two pieces, which is this. And ease, which is like not feeling good in your own skin. [00:20:01] Speaker C: Yeah. Are you at ease? [00:20:02] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:20:03] Speaker D: Uncomfortable. So if you're uncomfortable with kind of how your life is going, it's a. It's. It's some form of a dis. Ease. Right. You need to take a look into that. You may want to go seek some help or see a counselor or talk to a friend. It doesn't have to go to the extremes. And that's what I love about our collegiate recovery community. If you didn't have any inclination that you're having some discomfort in your life, come talk to us and we'll point you in the right direction. [00:20:26] Speaker A: And I'm sure you guys probably work closely with the families of your students that are part of your community. And what other types of misconceptions do you try to debunk when you are helping the family be as best support as possible to. To a student that's in recovery? [00:20:46] Speaker D: Sure. Well, we definitely have an amazing family program within our collegiate recovery and Intervention Services. Kelly Miller is our family program coordinator. But what we try to do is families sometimes either overreact or underreact. And that's kind of the experience that we've had is, you know, their loved one is getting into trouble, and all of a sudden they're gonna pull them out of school and they're gonna have to go to the military or do something along those lines. It's a little bit of an overreaction. And then there's. There's some parents who just underreact. Their kids are failing out of their classes. They're, you know, having to pay for semester after semester with no, you know, problem moving forward progress. And they're just kind of co signing and saying it's okay. It's just. It's just a college experience. Everybody in college goes through that. And so again, it's just, you know, we try to do our best to engage the families, to educate them a little bit, but when their kids are really going through. Through some problems, we really want them to understand that it's been a process to get here and that they don't need to take full ownership of their child's problems, and they start to say, what did I do wrong? [00:21:49] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:21:49] Speaker D: And they start to beat themselves up. And again, it is a multitude of environments, peers, experiences that lead people down that path. So we try to let them know that they're a piece of it, but they're not the whole thing. But they are a large portion of the solution. So you cannot treat someone with addiction or substance use disorder alone. You have to treat this family system. [00:22:15] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:22:15] Speaker D: And again, like yourself, like being the sister of your brother, you know, being the sister, you have a role to play in supporting your brother's recovery process. [00:22:24] Speaker C: Yeah, that was a very good explanation. That was, that was great. So what is recovery? We got a few minutes before we'll take a break. We can go ahead and jump into that. So what does recovery look like? I know it's like you can do it at any time if you feel like that's what you need. But I mean, what, where do you start? [00:22:42] Speaker B: Yeah. So, you know, everybody's journey starts different. You know, my journey started with a 16 month intensive outpatient drug court program. [00:22:54] Speaker A: Right. [00:22:54] Speaker B: And it was, it was great because it got me sober long enough to realize that I needed recovery. Because just not putting in doesn't mean that you are engaged in an active recovery lifestyle. So there's several principles that go into it, But I would argue that the antecedent of addiction is connection. And so that's one thing that I think pulls a lot of us out of it after we actually get the actual chemical dependency out of our system. And so how do we connect? How are we being of service in our community? How am I getting myself out of my own head? By empathizing and helping others. And that's really a catalyst that sparks a lot of the early recovery that we see from students coming to us who don't need an intervention, who don't need to go to treatment, who are not so far down the scale, but they've started to use with negative comments, consequences, or they started to isolate. And so, and so how do we bring that, you know, them out of that is we provide fellowship, you know, we provide support. We do have clinical pieces that we offer to our students, counseling services, and we team up with a lot of different departments across our campus community to make sure that there's no barriers and they have services where they need. But I would argue that the main thing is connection and, you know, living that happy, joyous, and free lifestyle and that, you know, that requires work. It's a daily reprieve. And they have to do daily work and, you know, practice. A lot of our students who identify as being in long term recovery rely on a 12 step program that they also work in tandem with the collegiate recovery community. But yeah, it takes a lot of work, but it kind of depends on where you are and where you start and, and how far down the scale you went. But I would say that that connection and that being of service to others is a big piece of it. [00:24:47] Speaker C: Yeah. Sounds like there's multiple things that come in play. [00:24:51] Speaker B: I would argue it's things that we all need to do just life better, not necessarily recovery better. It's really a program suited to be able to suit up and show up to live life on lifestyle. Yes. [00:25:03] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:25:04] Speaker A: Well. Well, Hillary, with what you mentioned, and I love how you articulated this, that there is a difference between being sober and recovery. I think a lot of times people want to use those strongly as the exact same thing. But even when you're sharing your own experience, you have that time of sobriety to really buy into wanting to pursue recovery as a lifestyle. And I don't know, I just geek out when I sit here and listen to you guys just because I know the impact that you've had on our students. But before I get too excited, it's time for another break, y'. All. So hopefully y' all are down for another segment with us. You are listening to Fit to Be tied with Sheena and Whitney and we'll catch you after the break. Welcome back. You are listening to Fit to Be time with Sheen and Whitney on 90.7 the Capstone. And if you are just joining us, we have had some awesome conversation with Jaime Garza and Hilary Gruber of the Collegiate Recovery Community Program that's here at the university. And Hillary, I know before the break you were mentioning that your department often partners with other campus departments when it comes to providing an excellent experience for your students. So what are some of the common departments that you guys partner with and what do those partnerships look like? [00:26:40] Speaker B: Yeah, so one thing we do for all our students who are members of our program is we offer priority registration. And so we partner with another department that helps us give them access to that, similar to how the athletes get that priority registration due to their athletic schedule. Well, we also have a recovery schedule to maintain, and so we offer that service to our students. We also partner with UREC every now and again. Our biggest partnership has been the intramural sport sports. We've sponsored a intramural sport team, I think for three semesters going out. Yeah, because we did the sand volleyball. [00:27:20] Speaker C: Oh, volleyball. I was curious what y' all played sand volleyball. [00:27:24] Speaker B: And then I think they're doing flag frisbee something. [00:27:27] Speaker C: Flag frisbee. [00:27:28] Speaker D: Ultimate Frisbee. [00:27:29] Speaker B: Ultimate Frisbee. [00:27:31] Speaker C: I know nothing about sports. I'm like, yeah, an intermission at a sports thing. [00:27:36] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And then we also, you know, do our across campus, across the different colleges because, you know, a big piece of our students program is, you know, giving back to the community. And so how can they, on a college campus setting, you know, educate and help prevent maybe, you know, from their peers going down this path? And so we are speaking with the nursing college with. He's with the business school and having some of our students trained as peer educators where they can go out and speak to what addiction is, what recovery looks like, and some of the processes at hand because it is a bit of a niche population. You know, lifex is small, but it kind of has that rippling effect where we all have a friend, a family member, a roommate, a loved one that we might come across and maybe as our time, you know, as a student at ua. And so what do I do? How do I get them connected and to the resources that they may need? [00:28:26] Speaker C: And y' all have also had some amazing guest speakers recently. [00:28:30] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:28:30] Speaker C: Talk about their experiences that have written books. I know you always hook me up with the books. [00:28:36] Speaker B: We do a guest speaker series once a year in the spring, and we always have them speak in the big Ferg Ballroom. I think two years ago, we had a NFL quarterback, Ryan Leaf. Yeah, that was a good one. I'm trying to think who was last year. [00:28:52] Speaker D: Last year was William Cope Moyer. [00:28:54] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. [00:28:54] Speaker B: William Cope Moyer. So his pres. Or his dad was press secretary for, like, lbj and he's like a Pulitzer Prize. [00:29:02] Speaker C: Is that the Broken book? [00:29:03] Speaker B: Yeah, he wrote Broken was one of his novels. And he does a lot of advocacy work for Hazelton Betty Ford. And so, yeah, he was a really, really cool speaker. But, yeah, hopefully we'll have a good one coming up. [00:29:16] Speaker C: Yeah. How do people find out about that? Like, if they're interested, Is it on the UA events calendar? [00:29:21] Speaker B: Yes, we'll always get it on there. And, you know. Yeah, that's a great question. Like, how. How do people get connected if they hear this or they see some yellow balloons or they hear the word CRC or the acronym crc? The best way, if you really want to get involved, you've heard about this, you're gung ho. You want to see what it's all about is to go to our website, Recovery UA Edu, and there's a portal on there. You put your first name and your email and we will reach out directly to you within 24 hours. Wow. And get you plugged in. Now, if you want more of a soft touch, like I don't really know what this recovery thing is, or one of my friends is in recovery, I want to learn a little bit more about it. We have weekly community recovery night meetings, and that is a one hour meeting in Farah Hall. It's in room 214. It's every Thursday night. And that's where either a student or somebody from the local recovery community will come share their story, their experience, strength and hope with addiction and recovery. And it's a great fellowship event too, because everyone always congregates and goes and gets a meal afterwards. And it's cool to hear, you know, because like I said, a lot of times, people just who aren't in recovery can really relate to the life struggles and how they overcame that, you know, it's really impactful. [00:30:30] Speaker A: That's awesome. [00:30:31] Speaker C: Y' all are busy. That's great though. Y' all are so busy. [00:30:35] Speaker A: And speaking of busy, Jaime, I know that you're often traveling and recruiting and talking about our program. Tell us a little bit about what that looks like for you. [00:30:46] Speaker B: Sure. [00:30:46] Speaker D: Again, we have students who will get into some medical need. Either have to take a medical withdrawal from the university because something that was substance use related. And what I'm pretty proud of is I'm from the state of California and it seems like it's a very liberal state. And so when you think of a conservative state like the state of Alabama, you start feeling like they're going to be very strict. And what I have found here at the University of Alabama is we are probably one of the most caring universities in the country. That's great to be able to take a student and see that this is a problem that is not, like I said, a moral problem. They're not bad kids that they just need. They need a hand, they need some help. [00:31:28] Speaker C: They need help. [00:31:29] Speaker D: And for us to be able to give them a medical withdrawal from the university and say, go get some help and then come back and we'll pick up right where we left off. That's very rare. [00:31:37] Speaker C: That is awesome. [00:31:38] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:31:38] Speaker D: That is very rare. And I attribute that to the leadership here at the university for having that heart for their students. And so what I get to do is I get to go and visit our students at treatment centers that they Go to make sure that a. That they're being taken care of. We take care of our own here at Bama. We make sure they're being well taken care of and they're being fed. Right. Like a good father. [00:31:59] Speaker A: To make sure you're being fed. [00:32:01] Speaker D: How you take care of my kids. But then I also get to tell the story of being able to come back. Back to school. There's a lot of. A lot of people out there who feel like addiction has taken away their. Their hopes and dreams. Some of them may have legal cases. They have background issues. And I always tell them, like, look, never give up hope. And so I get to spread that word and give them the admissions speech. You can apply to the University of Alabama. We will do everything we can to help you. And we've been pretty successful. Just over the summer alone, we had almost over 10 students that just said, hey, I want to come back to the university. [00:32:36] Speaker C: That is awesome. [00:32:37] Speaker D: And that's just. Again, the heart of what we try to do is give people a second and third chance, because I know I needed it. And when I finally walked that stage and have that doctoral degree, it wasn't because of anything else, but a miracle and caring people who gave me a second and third chance. [00:32:58] Speaker A: I love that. [00:32:58] Speaker B: And. [00:32:59] Speaker A: And your services are so near and dear to my heart. Just because I often will share clients with you all if they have an eating disorder that is in tandem with substance abuse or maybe even standalone. And the way you said, a lot of times, people feel like their addiction has taken away their hopes and dreams. I tell my clients all the time, I never want you to see, like, your eating disorder has stolen away what you ultimately want for yourself, you know, whether that be your dream career or having a family. So I just. I don't know. I'm getting all the feels right. [00:33:33] Speaker C: Yeah. And we do have mood lighting today. [00:33:36] Speaker A: Our lights are down. [00:33:37] Speaker C: It's, like, super chill. No, I think what you guys do is great. Like I said, I love to go over there and teach yoga. When I get to. And see the faces and see everybody and just be there for that moment of time. And just. This is here, this is now. This is what we're doing in this room. And I think. I think it's really great. We're getting close to another break, but before we close out our show, any other little things you want to jump in? Yeah, yeah. [00:34:01] Speaker D: One thing I also want to know is that, you know, one of the initiatives that Dr. Love is doing right now, he's doing a recovery Ally Training and what that is for is that our students, you know, they want to be able to feel like they can walk around this campus free. There is a stigma that comes with addiction. Oh yeah, absolute stigma with addiction, with mental health issues, eating disorders, everything. And we were really wanting. That's why we have our tailgates smacked down in the middle of the quad. Because we want to let them know that we don't have to hide just because you've chosen to live a lifestyle of recovery. And so what we're really trying to do is team up with the entire community and let them know like, hey, these are some items that you want to watch out for when you when you are dealing with someone in long term recovery. And Dr. Love has been able to create this program and we're going to start releasing some of the programming so that when our students go to a faculty's office hours and they see that the recovery ally sticker outside of their office, I love that they feel like this is a place that someone is me. [00:35:03] Speaker A: Yeah, I know. I'm like I'm me rocking that alleyway. [00:35:06] Speaker D: They're recovery informed and that's a place where I can feel comfortable talking about like this is why I'm having a hard time right now with the class because this is what's going on in my life. And so that is a good sign of what's to come for university. [00:35:23] Speaker C: I think anytime we can be informed, especially faculty because I teach some kinesiology one credit classes and I'm always like when my students want to talk to [00:35:31] Speaker A: me, I was like, let's talk about it. [00:35:32] Speaker C: And they'll sit there with me for hours. So I would literally love that. But we really take a break and we'll be back. You're listening to Fit to be tied with Sheena and Whitney on 90.7 the Capstone. It's a Sunday afternoon, you guys. Welcome back to Fit to be tie with Sheena and Whitney on 90.7 the Capstone. We have had an amazing show kicking off recovery month. We've got some more shows to happen with our friends at the CRC and I don't know who will have the next week. It'll just be a surprise. [00:36:11] Speaker B: Do we know we will have two students, two seniors come and kind of tag team their stories, their personal testament. [00:36:19] Speaker C: We love when we have students on. We usually have professionals but then we always like to throw in students here and there. It just keeps us grounded. It's great. [00:36:27] Speaker A: And the students, they tell their friends to listen to the show not that faculty staff don't have friends. But students. [00:36:32] Speaker C: I mean, we have so many fans right now listening to 2 o' clock on a Sunday afternoon. [00:36:36] Speaker A: Absolutely. But anyways. [00:36:40] Speaker C: But hey, you know, I don't know if you guys remember, but we had to reschedule the Ye Alabama Tie Dyed event. [00:36:48] Speaker A: Yes. [00:36:48] Speaker C: And we are doing that tonight. [00:36:50] Speaker B: That was a bad rainstorm. [00:36:51] Speaker C: That was a bad rainstorm. [00:36:53] Speaker A: Yeah. That was awful. [00:36:54] Speaker C: Yes. [00:36:54] Speaker A: But tonight, though. Yes. Six o'. Clock. Because we can't. You can't be standing in line for a food truck when it's, like, raining. And thankfully, that's not happening. [00:37:02] Speaker C: He gets a tie dye shirt. Yeah. [00:37:04] Speaker D: You're not committed. I will stand in the rain. [00:37:07] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, for some tacos and some grilled cheese tacos. [00:37:11] Speaker C: You know, I just want to wear my Grateful Dead shirt. That's all. I want to see my dancing bears. [00:37:16] Speaker A: But Collegiate Recovery and Intervention Services, you guys are part of that event too, right? [00:37:20] Speaker B: Yes, yes, we'll be there representing and definitely going to bring a white shirt with me. And it's going to be great. It's going to be awesome. And we also have, you know, one more event. Just want to plug it one more time. On September 29th, kind of cap Recovery Month. We've got a Run for Recovery 5K. It's on UA's campus. You can find the link to sign up on our website or there's flyers all over the place on campus. And it's an awesome. It's also three Greek points. [00:37:45] Speaker C: Oh, my. Three Greek points. Three whole points. [00:37:50] Speaker B: But again, a great place to, you know, have fun fellowship exercise and come out for a good cause. [00:37:55] Speaker C: So they can find the information on your website and they can register. [00:37:58] Speaker A: Yes. [00:37:59] Speaker B: It's an online registration portal and got a cool swag bag, awesome shirt. So some vendors out there, so it'll be fun. [00:38:06] Speaker A: Now, do you mind sharing y' all social media handles on here just in case? [00:38:13] Speaker B: So we are on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and it is all hashtag or no, it's not hashtag amarecovery. Sorry, I'm showing my age. [00:38:23] Speaker C: If you're like me, I'm like, hashtag protocol. [00:38:26] Speaker B: Yeah, recovery. So check us out like us, follow us. We're always posting just silly antics on there. [00:38:34] Speaker A: I love that. [00:38:34] Speaker C: I'm actually looking right now. [00:38:35] Speaker A: Speaking of the word silly, that means that I can tell y' all a terrible joke. Like, I will. Just because I'm embarrassed about it. I'm gonna go ahead and just say, like, this is gonna be. [00:38:47] Speaker C: We love silly jokes. Sheena I know, but since you don't [00:38:51] Speaker A: have one today, Whitney, I will share one. It is food related. So in our last two minutes together, I was actually hoping we would run out of time. So I'm gonna take a look. [00:39:00] Speaker C: Oh, no way, sister. You're telling it. [00:39:02] Speaker A: Okay, so why shouldn't you fall in love with a pastry chef? [00:39:07] Speaker C: Wait a minute. [00:39:08] Speaker B: Wait. Why should. [00:39:09] Speaker A: Why should you not fall in love with a pastry chef? [00:39:13] Speaker B: Something about sheets or layers or dough. [00:39:17] Speaker D: Please tell us. [00:39:18] Speaker C: Please tell us. We have no clue. [00:39:20] Speaker B: I know. [00:39:20] Speaker A: It's like, that's where in Radio 101 they'd be like, just tell them. He'll desert you. How bad is that? [00:39:29] Speaker C: I mean, but it. I mean, it works. [00:39:31] Speaker B: You're punny, though. I love a good pun. [00:39:33] Speaker A: Thank you. Thank you. [00:39:34] Speaker C: I gotta up my game then, because I. It was the long break in the. [00:39:38] Speaker B: The weekend. [00:39:39] Speaker C: I didn't think I needed a joke. I forgot. [00:39:41] Speaker B: I'm sorry. [00:39:42] Speaker A: Yeah. And two, maybe we should step up our social media game and then have listeners suggest jokes to us. And then they're listening thinking, like, oh, my gosh, did my. [00:39:51] Speaker C: Are they gonna say my joke on [00:39:52] Speaker A: the radio to be read by the Whitney page or the Sheena Gregg? Like, so. Okay, so producer, make notes. We will do this. But you guys, I hope y' all have had fun with us. I know that we have enjoyed our time with Hilary and Jaime today, learning about recovery and just really being able to kick off this month and having some fabulous guests that will continue in this topic area. But you guys enjoy the rest of your Sunday afternoon. We will see y' all tonight at the rec center outdoor pool parking lot because we've got all the food trucks. We've got MC DJ Whitney Paik. [00:40:29] Speaker C: I will be dj. You better give me some song requests [00:40:32] Speaker A: or you're going to hear a bunch of like,'90s DJ Cool Whip. As you said that that was your name. But y' all come join us. And until next time, you have been listening to Fit to Be tied with Sheena and Whitney on 90.7 the Capstone.