A visit to the student recovery house at Sacred Heart University reminded us of the opportunities now available for young adults to start/finish college in recovery. James Cafran, SHU’s Collegiate Recovery Program Coordinator, gave our Intern Mary Kowal-Foley and me a house tour. James then described the background into SHU’s foray in collegiate recovery. First, there were already collegiate recovery programs in Connecticut, specifically at Fairfield University and UConn-Storrs. Secondly, Bill Mitchell of Mitchell’s of Westport, a living legend in recovery advocacy in Fairfield County, was a key driver and contributor to Sacred Heart’s Collegiate Recovery Project. Bill helped lead a fundraising effort initiated to great success, which enabled both on-campus office space and a university-owned house to be acquired.
SHU’s recovery house has been ready for students to move in, but COVID has postponed move-in day until September 0f 2022. James and the current house manager/SHU junior Nathan are giving tours to families looking at CT collegiate recovery programs. I can physically see that Sacred Heart–with a development program that include a Business School and hockey arena located on my old employer’s Fairfield campus–has a lot to offer. Feel free to go here for more information, or contact James directly at cafranj@sacredheart.edu or 914-849-8590.