How one student is changing the conversation around recovery

For Tulane School of Social Work student Nick Harrison, addressing the stigma surrounding substance use and recovery begins with changing the conversation. 

Harrison developed a Recovery Allyship initiative through SAFE Project’s Collegiate Recovery Leadership Academy, a national fellowship for students interested in the intersections of addiction and mental health recovery, leadership and advocacy. Harrison served as a fellow there from September 2025 through May 2026.  

His Recovery Allyship initiative is designed to help members of the Tulane community better understand and support students who may be struggling with substance use or are in recovery. It aims to reduce stigma, encourage listening without judgment and promote recovery-friendly environments. 

Harrison’s initiative takes on added significance in September, which is recognized as National Recovery Month, an annual observance aimed at increasing awareness of substance use recovery and the resources available to support it. 

For Harrison, the work is personal. He is open about being a person in recovery and about the unconventional path that eventually brought him to Tulane. 

Harrison, who grew up in Lucedale, Mississippi, experienced substance use disorder before entering treatment in 2018. Several years into recovery, he began volunteering as a peer support specialist and discovered an ability to connect with people facing many of the same challenges he had experienced. 

He enrolled at Southern University at New Orleans, where he studied addictive behaviors counseling and prevention. After struggling academically and experiencing homelessness as a high school student, Harrison graduated from SUNO as valedictorian with a 4.0 GPA. 

“I no longer question, ‘Can I do it?’” Harrison said. “It’s not a question of, ‘Can I do it?’ It’s ‘How do I do it?’” 

During his undergraduate studies and internships, Harrison began thinking more broadly about recovery. Clinical treatment is important, he said, but sustaining individual recovery also requires supportive communities. That realization drew him to social work and eventually to Tulane, where the Tulane Recovery Community helped solidify his decision to enroll. 

After beginning his Master of Social Work studies in August 2025, Harrison became involved with TRC as a student. Through TRC, he learned about the Collegiate Recovery Leadership Academy. 

With encouragement from Jacob Goldberg, Tulane’s director of recovery programs, Harrison applied for the fellowship with a proposal to develop Recovery Allyship Training on campus.  

“Being selected as a CRLA fellow was meaningful because it affirmed that this work was relevant beyond a single university,” Harrison said. 

In January 2026, Harrison began his MSW internship with TRC at the Lux Recovery House near Tulane’s uptown campus. The internship provided a setting for him to further develop and put his Recovery Allyship work into practice at Tulane.  

The Lux Recovery House — named in honor of Tulane alumni Paul and Leslie Lux, who provided a $1.5 million gift in 2024 to support students engaged in a recovery lifestyle or exploring recovery — provides space for support meetings and socializing, staff offices and housing.  

Harrison initially envisioned providing training for resident advisers, student organizations and university leaders. But the project took an unexpected turn when a member of Tulane Emergency Medical Services (TEMS) asked him to develop specialized training for the group. 

Presented in spring 2026, the TEMS training focused on crisis response, as well as reducing stigma in emergency care and recovery-informed approaches. Harrison later adapted the training for Tulane resident advisers. 

“One of the biggest lessons was that effective training has to be tailored to the audience,” he said. “Recovery Allyship Training could not be a one-size-fits-all slide deck.” 

At the heart of the project is an effort to challenge misconceptions and stigmatizing language surrounding substance use disorder and recovery. That is particularly important on college campuses, Harrison said, where recovery may be less visible. 

He hopes the training encourages people to approach students experiencing substance use challenges with “curiosity, dignity, empathy and an understanding that recovery is possible,” while helping connect them with resources such as TRC. 

The project has also allowed Harrison to put lessons from the School of Social Work into practice. Coursework in systems theory, advocacy and program evaluation helped him develop the initiative and adapt it for different audiences. His internship with TRC, made possible by a gift from alumni Rick and Debbie Rees, further connected his classroom education with his recovery advocacy. 

For Harrison, who will graduate in December, the experience has reinforced his belief that recovery extends beyond clinical treatment to creating communities where people can thrive. 

It is an idea he sums up in two words: “Recovery everywhere.” 

“To me,” Harrison said, “that means recovery is visible, accessible and celebrated across Tulane.” 

To learn more about the Tulane Recovery Community, email recovery@tulane.edu or visit recovery.tulane.edu.