The Need for a Continuum of Care: The Rutgers Comprehensive Model

ABSTRACT

College drinking has been a concern of college administrators, parents of college-age students and health care professionals for some time. Over the last few years an increasing number of institutions have begun to understand that the problem is complex enough that it warrants attention and that a variety of strategies are necessary to attempt to reduce dangerous drinking and the unwanted attendant consequences (for example, Berkowitz, 2005; Berkowitz & Perkins, 1986; Burns, Ballou & Lederman, 1991; Burns & Goodstadt, 1989; Knight et al., 2000; Lederman & Stewart, 2005; NIAAA, 2002; O'Malley& Johnston, 2002; Perkins, 1997; 2002; 2003; Weschler & Kuo, 2000.). While some institutions have looked for a silver bullet that would serve as a cure all, over time it has become clear that institutions of higher education need to have comprehensive plans designed to address drinking behaviors and provide a continuum of care.

The purpose of this article is to describe the Rutgers Program, a comprehensive model addressing the continuum from prevention to recovery support that can meet the complex needs of a college community who are involved in a wide spectrum of alcohol and other drug use from nonuse, social/recreational use, dangerous use, abuse, addiction, and recovery. The paper begins with a description of the problem of college drinking, which is presented as the backdrop for the Rutgers Model. We have combined the experience of the second author as a research scholar and the first author as a practitioner to create the description of the continuum. The differences in the voices of the researcher and practitioner we believe reflect the collaborative approach that this continuum requires to embed itself into the campus culture (Lederman & Stewart, 2005).

KEYWORDS:

• At-risk college students
• continuum of care
• comprehensive model
• culture of college drinking
• early intervention
• experiential learning
• recovery stories
• Recovery House
• social norms
• socially situated experiential learning
• substance abuse

Notes

1. A compilation of several common definitions.

2. Mary is a pseudonym used to protect her identity. In any recovery stories cited in this article, the identities of individuals have been protected.