2024 Recovery Conference

By attending this conference, attendees will:

• Explore emerging best practices in collegiate recovery and mental health support. 
• Explore the impact of stigma on the development and utilization of mental health and recovery based services on and off campus.
• Examine the role that a University’s mission plays in developing recovery-friendly environments and advocating for holistic support for students in recovery. 
• Create a community of professionals seeking to transform student support while exploring best practices for collegiate recovery.

Kristen Harper, M.Ed., is a Public Health Advisor in the newly established Office of Recovery at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA). As a person living in long-term recovery from mental health and substance use conditions, she works tirelessly to amplify the importance of including lived experience in leadership. Kristen began her SAMSHA career in the Division of Targeted Prevention at the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) where she worked to support the division director in management and division operations while also support the Harm Reduction grant program as a subject matter expert. As the Founding Director for the Center for Addiction Recovery at Georgia Southern University’s JPH College of Public Health in 2008, Kristen established one of the earliest collegiate recovery programs in the U.S. In 2011, Kristen joined Texas Tech University's Collegiate Recovery Community team as a research associate in the College of Human Sciences, where she focused most of her work on supporting the Collegiate Recovery Community Replication project, funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Department of Education (DOE). In 2013, Kristen became the Executive Director of the Association of Recovery Schools (ARS) and helped communities create and sustain recovery high schools across the U.S. and Canada.  In 2016, Kristen transitioned to a new role as the Executive Director Recovery Communities of North Carolina, a statewide recovery community organization which co-managed the Access to Recovery (ATR) grant in collaboration with the State of North Carolina’s Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services. Additionally, during this period, Kristen contracted with Transforming Youth Recovery (TYR), a private foundation, to manage a technical assistance and grant program which supported 120+ collegiate recovery efforts across the country. In 2017, Kristen joined C4 Innovations as a recovery specialist where she had the opportunity to work on several projects, including, the Opioid Response Network (ORN) and SAMHSA's Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale (BRSS TACS). She served on the National Advisory Council (NAC) for SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment from 2016 - 2021.  As part of the fall 2021 Innovation to Impact Fellows Program at Yale University, Kristen learned to bring innovations to market while also advocating for policy reform at the federal level. As the former Director of Recovery Innovation at Faces & Voices of Recovery, Kristen enjoyed cultivating her passion, creativity, and subject matter expertise to a diverse group of stakeholders nationally. Her greatest joy in life, however, is being a wife to her brilliant husband and mother to her adorable kids who keep her on her toes constantly! 

Kristina Canfield is the Executive Director for the Association of Recovery in Higher Education (ARHE). After entering recovery during her time as an undergraduate student at Christopher Newport University, she sought resources and support that would aid her in continuing her recovery. After transferring during her junior year, Kristina established Ohio University’s Collegiate Recovery Community in order to assist students in or seeking recovery from substance use disorders on campus. 

Following graduation, she worked in an inpatient treatment facility where she continued to gain valuable experience in the continuum of care for substance use disorders. Passionate about helping those in higher education, Kristina also served as program coordinator for the Collegiate Recovery Program (CRP) at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and as the Substance Abuse Prevention & Recovery Coordinator for The University of Alabama at Birmingham. Prior to becoming the Executive Director of ARHE, she was Conference Manager for the ARHE/ARS/AAPG Annual Conference, Secretary of the Advisory Council, and Project Lead for two grant projects focused on advancing the field of collegiate recovery. 

Kristina’s vision is that one day, every institution of higher education will offer support for students in or seeking recovery so that they feel supported, no matter their chosen path of recovery.