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Substance Abuse Prevention

EDUCATION, commonly known as SAPE, is “dedicated to promoting healthy, low-risk behavior and encouraging students to make responsible decisions when using alcohol and other drugs,” according to the office’s website.

The most common SAPE initiative that students interact with is AlcoholEdu. AlcoholEdu is an online education program all USC students must complete during their first semester. This online alcohol course measures students’ perceptions of alcohol use and abuse both before they arrive on campus and again after they’ve been on campus for several weeks.

SAPE also hosts tailgates before a few of the home football games in the fall, providing an alcohol-free alternative to pre-game festivities and offering water and sandwiches to students attending the game — whether they are drinking or not. Nikki Prudé, SAPE’s the assistant director of outreach and communication, said the goal is for each student to feel comfortable in their habits regarding things like drinking alcohol.

SAPE also oversees Gamecock Recovery, a program that supports USC community members who are in recovery from substance use. The program offers recovery coaching, free coaching to students working to heal from substance abuse. This coaching spans all forms of recovery, from personal substance abuse to a student’s recovery from early substance exposure. These meetings cater to the student’s privacy and confidentiality concerns. According to Prudé, students do not have to turn on their microphones or cameras in the online meetings because they are designed to work at the student’s comfort level.

By Tyler Sprague & Will Kelly

Students Taking Initiative and Responsibility (STIR) is a screening and intervention program that provides students with information on the negative impacts of substance use and ways to get support. Students can refer themselves or someone they know to this program, where the referred student will take a substance abuse assessment to provide deeper insight into their relationship with alcohol and other substances. After that, the student will attend three sessions with a STIR coach to offer insight as the student completes the program. STIR coaches are graduate students in the Social Work program at USC. They are trained to ensure students get the most out of the STIR program and guide them to identify high-risk behaviors in order to make healthy, responsible decisions instead.

SAPE’s office is located on the third floor of the Wellness and Fitness Center. For more information, visit the office’s website on sc.edu.