Recently, the excessive use of alcohol amongst members in the Fort Lewis College community has reached situations holding more gravity than simple warnings about alcohol. FLC's student wellness coordinator, Kendra Gallegos said it is important for everyone to pay attention to the reasons as to why they are using alcohol in their life.
“I think it's possible to have fun and be social and still abuse alcohol but I think the bottom line is if you're using it as an escape, it can also be abuse,” Gallegos said.
Gallegos said when a person's use of alcohol starts to become dysfunctional, meaning when it starts to seep out into the person's life and when it affects their relationships, this is when it becomes abuse.
“That's my non-technical definition,” she said.
Karen Nakayama, FLC's head of the counseling center recommends a website called “e-chug” for students who may be unsure of where they lie on the spectrum of abuse or addiction.
This website is a place where students can look for guidelines on how to recognize abuse patterns in the habits of themselves or those around them, she said.
“We call it self-medicating if students use alcohol if they are depressed, have anxiety or trouble sleeping,” Nakayama said. “In the short run, it helps but in the long run it usually does not.”
Beyond the tendencies, habits and other warning traits that can lead an individual into realizing they or someone they know has an addiction problem, is the genetic aspect of addiction, she said.
“There is a genetic aspect to addiction and alcoholism. This may come out, for example, if you're having a few drinks in a social setting, you start drinking more and you get to a momentous state where you can't stop,” she said.
Fortunately, students at FLC are proportionately better about reporting dangerous or unhealthy alcoholism they see compared to other schools Nakayama has worked at, she said.
“Sometimes it's hard if you're drinking or if it's the heat of the moment but usually it's better to step in, in some way,” Gallegos said.
Resident Assistants at FLC have received bystander intervention training and are now to the point where they can train others on how to be inventively effective bystanders, Gallegos said.
“Distraction can be an effective tool in being an active bystander to sketchy situation, it can be humors on some level but it can also be lifesaving,” she said.
FLC’s Counseling Center is a resource available to students that find themselves caught up in problems of alcoholism and addiction, Gallegos said. The counseling center may even be useful for those who are helping a friend or loved one through their addiction.
Contrarily, for people who self medicate, there is an on-campus support group called “Altered States.” The group which meets every Tuesday and is free for all students, Nakayama said.