Students return to the University of Calgary campus during the summer of 2024.

Campus Recovery Programs

About Campus Recovery Programs

Campus Recovery Programs (CRPs) create recovery-friendly campus environments through peer support, mutual-aid meetings, substance-free housing and events, awards, counseling staff, and dedicated drop-in centres

Interested in starting a CRP? This tool kit provides the resources needed to develop a CRP tailored to your campus. 

View the Toolkit

Looking to plan a substance-free event?

Designed to foster recovery‑friendly campus communities, the Recovery on Campus (ROC) Event Planning Toolkit provides practical guidance for planning intentional and sustainable events. It offers step-by-step resources, best practices, and tools to ensure events are welcoming, inclusive, and supportive of students, staff, and faculty in or seeking recovery. 

View the Event Toolkit
UCalgary Recovery Community Coffee Cart

Campus recovery programs improve academic, health, and economic outcomes, including: 

higher grade point averages and graduation rates
lower relapse rates
lower costs and better quality of life than standard recovery treatments
UCalgary campus at night

“Out of the four universities I was accepted to, I chose UCalgary because of the UCalgary Recovery Community and the support they could provide me in both my research and my recovery.”

Kat Pisani

Master of Fine Arts Student, Recovery on Campus Scholarship Recipient

The four post-secondary institutions listed below have signed the Recovery-Friendly Campus Pledge and received Recovery on Campus grants to establish their own Campus Recovery Programs. 

University of Calgary

The University of Calgary and UCalgary Recovery Community (UCRC) serves as the coordination, research, and proof of concept headquarters for ROC. UCRC is a peer-driven, inclusive program that supports students, faculty, and staff across all recovery pathways and stages. 

UCRC recognizes that recovery is self-defined and may include a range of recovery-oriented and harm-reducing approaches.


 

Learn more
University of Calgary sign

Mount Royal University

The MRU Recovery Community is an inclusive, peer-led initiative that supports all pathways to recovery, builds community, and works to reduce stigma on campus. MRU Recovery Community believes that recovery begins the moment you start to think about your relationship with substances or process and behavioural addiction.

Learn more

Red Deer Polytechnic

Red Deer Polytechnic’s Recovery on Campus (ROC) program is an inclusive, peer-informed community supporting students, staff, and faculty impacted by substance use and recovery. We embrace an all-pathways to recovery approach, honoring individual autonomy and recognizing both harm reduction and abstinence-based recovery models. 

Learn more

University of Alberta

University of Alberta's Recovery on Campus is an inclusive community dedicated to empowering students, faculty, and staff navigating substance use and recovery, upholding a recovery continuum model that honours individual autonomy and integrates both harm reduction and traditional recovery pathways.

Learn more

Post-secondary institutions building recovery events and programming

These post-secondary institutions are actively fostering wellness by organizing recovery‑focused events and peer‑support opportunities on campus. Their growing programming reflects a commitment to creating spaces where students in or seeking recovery can feel seen and supported.

Alberta University of the Arts  |   Ambrose University  |   Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity   |   Bow Valley College  |   Burman University   |   Concordia University of Edmonton (CUE)   |   Keyano College  |   Lakeland College  |   Lethbridge Polytechnic  |   MacEwan University  |   Medicine Hat College   |   NorQuest College  |   Northern Lakes College  |   Olds College  |   Portage College  |   Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT)  |   The King's University