“Anything from
substance abuse to
self harm behavior or
gambling, sex, food,
anything that can be an
addictive behavior for
people”
S te p h a n ie S c h a e fe r, E s th e r Jacobs and C h e ls ia Block offer free meetings where they help people tackle their addictive
b e h a v io r s . T h e m e e t in g s a re h e ld in R o g e r R o o k r o o m 2 2 0 .
STORY AND PHOTO BY ELIZABETH KESSEL
Smart Recovery is an anonymous, self-
help and support group where everyone
com es together to help identify w hat
issues need to be addressed.
Esther Jacobs, a facilitator for Smart
Recovery said, “ Smart is an unique group,
cause it’s not just focused on alcohol and
drugs; smart is helping you learn tools to
behave more like you want to behave.”
Smart Recovery is made for addictive
behaviors but S tep h an ie S ch aefer,
the adviser o f Sm art Recovery here at
Clackamas Community College, welcomes
everybody who wants to learn good life
skills.
Currently meetings are held each week
on Tuesdays from 4 -5 3 0 p .m . and on
Wednesdays 2 3 0 -4 p .m . You can find
these meetings in Roger Rook room 220.
The groups consist norm ally o f five
people per m eeting on Tuesdays and
are accom panied by a m ix o f three
facilitators, Schaefer, Jacobs and Chelsia
Block. The group tends to be smaller on
Wednesdays, but Schaefer says even if
one person shows up they will stay for
them .
The m eetings start o ff w ith a few
minutes of meditation exercise, focusing
on b reath in g, th en it turns to the
participants. The facilitators then ask
them their names, along with identifying
a struggle or challenge from the past
accompanied by a success.
M eetings are lead by a structure o f
cognitive behavioral treatments, such as
dialectical behavioral therapy. According
to a member o f Smart Recovery, DBT is
w hat counselors use outside o f Sm art
Recovery. In real life, they put DBT into
practice whenever they can remember
the skills.
There are four skills taught through
DBT: m indfulness, distress tolerance,
interpersonal effectiveness and emotion
regulation. It is very similar to what is
covered in the m eetings and slightly
adjusted to what each person would like
to address that day.
A cco rd in g to B lo ck , “ It could be
anything from like substance use to self-
harm behavior or gambling, sex, food just
anything that can kind of be an addictive
behavior for people.”
So how did Sm art Recovery begin
at C C C ? Sch aefer said , “ I used to
facilitate Smart Recovery when I was an
undergraduate at the Providence Portland
location and I loved it and had done it
for a while. A student saw me teaching
one day and recognized me from that
meeting. And the student approached me
and said, ‘Hey I think we should start a
club/ and I said, ‘Yeah let’s bring smart
to Oregon C ity.’ ”
“We spent a lot of time sitting together
by ourselves waiting for people to show
up to Sm art m eetings trying different
days different times. It took about a year
for us to get a regular following of people
and then we found the Tuesday 4 p .m .-
530 p.m . slot and that has been a solid
slot for probably about a year and half
now and yeah that’s kind of how Smart
started,” said Schaefer.
Such a simple beginning has turned
into an effective way to help students
with or without addictive behavior. Smart
Recovery is here to stay and is open for
everyone, stud ents and com m unity
members.
Addiction is som ething that affects
a lot o f college students and having an
option available that is free is invaluable.
Smart Recovery is based on therapeutic
techniques and science; on campus it is
an open, friendly and anonymous place
for anyone to talk about their troubles.
Correction: A teaser on the cover of Issue 23 of The Clackamas Print was misleading; the Army Strong Community Center is closing in June, not the Veterans Center. The Print regrets the ambiguity.
ON THE COVER: A. fo rm e r Clackam as s tu d e n t relaxes a t O pal Creek. P h o to b y M egan McCoy. Sasquatch illu s tra tio n b y Saige Keikkala. Cover d e isgn b y B randon C horum .
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