For many students at Harvard University, water bottles mean only one thing:
National Alcohol Screening Day (NASD).
NASD has become an institution at Harvard. For five years, the Department of
Behavioral Health & Academic Counseling at this university has been running
a very successful event, and this year was no exception. Despite inclement
weather, 1,329 students went down to the Athletic Center to take an anonymous
alcohol screening.
Ryan Travia, M.Ed., Director of the Office of Alcohol & Other Drug Services
at Harvard, offers a few tips on planning and conducting a successful event:
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Plan ahead- Partner with colleagues in other departments a few months before
the event. At Harvard, we contact Athletics two to three months before NASD to
reserve space in the Athletic Center, a large, centrally-located, and
well-known facility on campus.
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Time it correctly- Schedule your event with your students in mind. My peer
educators at Harvard (the Drug & Alcohol Peer Advisors), who are
responsible for promoting and staffing the event, always encourage us to host
NASD on a Friday, when there are fewer classes and students are more likely to
participate.
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Get the word out- I usually send a “Save the Date” to professional staff and
colleagues who have served as screeners in the past. This signals to them that
we will begin recruiting volunteers for the event soon, and that they should
block time off in their calendars if they would like to participate. We also
spend weeks publicizing the event via e-mail blasts, Facebook, posters, ads on
shuttle buses and in the daily student newspaper, as well as word of mouth.
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Remember to have incentives- Every student who participates in NASD by taking
the AUDIT and meeting with one of our screeners receives a complimentary water
bottle, inscribed with a health promotion message.
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Partner within your community- We spend a considerable amount of time
recruiting and training staff to serve as screeners – both from within
Harvard’s campus as well as community partners. This year, we had approximately
50 professional staff serving as screeners (about 14 per hour) and 40 peer
educators (about 8 per hour) helping to staff the event by greeting students as
they arrived, administering the AUDITS, directing traffic, answering questions,
and handing out water bottles.
National Alcohol Screening Day is held annually at hundreds of colleges across
the country. For more information or to register for the program, visit
www.mentalhealthscreening.org/college
Have something to say? If you are interested in writing an article for our
College Corner, email Ariela Edelson at
aedelson@mentalhealthscreening.org, or call 781.239.0071 x114