S02E06 -- Elicit Substance Use and Abuse in Higher Education, an Interview with Ms. Tricia Henderson

Summary: This is the long-awaited and one of the most requested topics by listeners. In this episode of the Unlikely Academics, Drs. Holcombe and Silver (sans Tommy Coleman) interview Ms. Tricia Henderson, the Assistant Director of Alcohol, Drug, & Mental Health Education in the Office of the Dean of Students at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Ms. Henderson discusses common illicit substance abuse in higher education. In this interview, we discuss some of the most common substance abuse complaints at UTC and how students typically respond to interventions and the trouble with measuring success. Ms. Henderson discusses how even a small change in potentially self-destructive behavior can have a huge impact on student success and graduation. She discusses the self-reflection exercise used in her practice to help students evaluate their decision-making process and look for ways to improve student performance outcomes. Tricia also discusses some of the methods of empowering students to seek help for themselves or others without fear of reprisal. She talks about some of the common patterns in substance use on campus, where students were surprised by the outcome of mixing substances and resulted in detrimental consequences. While this is an unusually long episode, there is great information from the student, administrative, or faculty perspective including faculty modeling the wrong behavior and methods for us all change the culture of higher education. For more information regarding Tricia's work go to: https://www.utc.edu/center-student-wellbeing/alcohol-drug-education/profiles/rgb151.php