PAC 102 Module 6 Recovery High Schools Example

Going Back to the Same Hallways: The Case for a Recovery High School in a Suburban County

Student Name

Psychology and Addiction Studies Program, Aspen University

PAC 102: Substance Abuse in Educational Settings

Instructor Name

Month Day, Year

Going Back to the Same Hallways: The Case for a Recovery High School in a Suburban County

Last year, forty-two students from the five school districts in the county around Lakeshore completed residential or intensive outpatient treatment for substance use disorders. Almost all returned to their original high schools, the same hallways, the same friends and, often, the same parking lots where they had used. District counselors estimated that more than half had resumed regular use within six months. One parent told the school board that her son came home from treatment ready to stay sober and was offered a vape before his first class ended. This paper evaluates whether the county should open a recovery high school. The county, students and figures are invented; the research is real.

The Problem of Returning

For adults, returning from treatment often means returning to work and home, with the chance to choose new friends. For adolescents, returning means going back to school, where attendance is required and the social world is fixed. A student in early recovery may share classes with the friends who used with them and may face daily offers and the stigma of being known as having been in treatment. Treatment programs can teach skills for avoiding relapse, but they cannot change the environment the student returns to.

What Recovery High Schools Are

Recovery high schools are secondary schools designed for students in recovery from substance use disorders. Moberg and Finch (2008) conducted a descriptive study of recovery high schools in the United States. The schools were small, typically enrolling a few dozen students or fewer, and operated in several forms, as independent schools, programs within a larger school or charter schools. They combined a regular academic program that led to a diploma with recovery support built into the school day, such as group check-ins, counseling and connections to mutual-help groups, and they required students to work toward abstinence. Their students had serious histories: many had used multiple substances, had co-occurring mental health problems and had been in treatment more than once. A peer community in recovery, in which students supported one another, was central to every school's design.

Evidence on Outcomes

Studying recovery high schools rigorously is difficult because students cannot ethically be randomly assigned to them. Finch et al. (2018) used a strong alternative: they compared students who attended recovery high schools after treatment with similar students who attended other high schools, matching them on many characteristics measured before enrollment. At follow-up, recovery high school students were substantially more likely to report complete abstinence from alcohol and other drugs than the comparison students, and they showed some evidence of better school attendance. The authors noted limits, including a modest sample, but described the results as the most rigorous evidence to date that recovery high schools help students sustain recovery.

Why Peers Matter So Much

Ramo and Brown (2008) compared the situations in which adolescents and adults relapsed after treatment. Adolescents' relapses most often occurred in social settings, with peers who were using and with substances readily available, while adults' relapses were more often linked to negative emotions such as depression or anger. For adolescents, the social environment was the leading risk.

This finding explains the parent's story and the county's numbers. A student returning to the same hallways faces the exact situations in which adolescents are most likely to relapse. A recovery high school changes those situations by surrounding students with peers who share the goal of staying sober.

Comparing the Options

A Recommendation With Conditions

The county should open a small recovery high school, enrolling up to thirty students from all five districts, on four conditions. First, shared funding: each district contributes per-pupil funding for its enrolled students, supplemented by grants, since recovery schools that depend on a single source often close. Second, staffing: certified teachers for the core subjects and a full-time recovery coach. Third, academic standards: a full curriculum leading to a regular diploma, so attending is not a step down. Fourth, evaluation: tracking abstinence, attendance and graduation, with comparison data from students who return to their original schools.

What It Would Cost

A recovery high school costs more per student than a regular school because it is small and adds recovery staff. For thirty students, the county estimates an annual budget of about $780,000, of which districts' per-pupil funding would cover roughly two thirds. The remaining third would come from state grants for recovery supports and from local foundations. Weighed against that cost are the costs of relapse: repeated treatment, lost school years and, at worst, overdose. The county's own data show that the forty-two students who returned from treatment last year generated more than a dozen readmissions to treatment within the year. Even a modest improvement in sustained recovery would offset part of the school's cost, though the main justification is the students' futures.

Listening to Students

Planning should include young people in recovery. Students who return from treatment and families who have navigated the return can describe what helped and what made relapse more likely. Their perspective would shape details such as transportation, schedules and how the school presents itself so that attending does not carry new stigma.

Conclusion

Students returning from treatment to the same hallways face the situations in which adolescents most often relapse. Moberg and Finch describe recovery high schools as small schools combining academics with recovery support and a peer community, Finch and colleagues find their students more likely to stay abstinent and Ramo and Brown explain why changing the social setting matters for adolescents. A small county recovery high school, with shared funding and evaluation, offers these students a better chance.

References

Finch, A. J., Tanner-Smith, E., Hennessy, E., & Moberg, D. P. (2018). Recovery high schools: Effect of schools supporting recovery from substance use disorders. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 44(2), 175-184. https://doi.org/10.1080/00952990.2017.1354378

Moberg, D. P., & Finch, A. J. (2008). Recovery high schools: A descriptive study of school programs and students. Journal of Groups in Addiction & Recovery, 2(2-4), 128-161. https://doi.org/10.1080/15560350802081314

Ramo, D. E., & Brown, S. A. (2008). Classes of substance abuse relapse situations: A comparison of adolescents and adults. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 22(3), 372-379. https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-164X.22.3.372