UW-Madison: Student organization awarded grant for students in recovery

CONTACT: Amy Margulies, 608-265-6034, amargulies@uhs.wisc.edu

UW-MADISON STUDENT ORGANIZATION AWARDED GRANT FOR STUDENTS IN RECOVERY

MADISON – University Health Services (UHS) has awarded Live Free, a University of Wisconsin-Madison student organization, with a $10,000 grant to assist students in recovery from substance use disorders and other addictive behaviors.

Live Free promotes well-being and community integration for UW-Madison students in recovery and their supporters. UHS serves as a co-advisor for the organization.

The grant, which was funded by the Stacie Mathewson Foundation and administered by Transforming Youth Recovery, will provide Live Free with early-stage funding to better meet the needs of students in recovery on campus.

Vanessa dellaBitta, co-chair of Live Free, says the grant funds will go toward recruitment, increasing community awareness, and peer support and outreach.

“One of our goals is to really promote community integration for those who have struggled with addiction issues of any kind,” dellaBitta says. “So we’re trying to bridge that gap and create an atmosphere of inclusion.”

The grant will also support the creation of an online map of community recovery assets intended to facilitate a nationwide network of resource sharing and collaboration among collegiate recovery practitioners, students and community members.

Amy Margulies, UHS counselor and co-advisor to Live Free, says the grant will unite UW-Madison with other universities from around the nation in their efforts to provide safe and stable communities in which students in recovery can thrive and succeed.

“Our goal is to reinforce the positive efforts of our students in recovery and to welcome them wholeheartedly as they pursue their higher education in Madison.”

Visit http://www.transformingyouthrecovery.org/ for more information about Transforming Youth Recovery.

For more information about Live Free, visit https://win.wisc.edu/organization/livefree/about.