This post was written by Hatchet reporter Kiara Bhagwanjee.

Student members and directors of mental illness recovery programs at universities from across the country met at GW on Thursday to discuss what peers, families and administrators can do to help students dealing with mental health issues.

GW Students for Recovery hosted the panel discussion, which members had been planning since October. Each speaker had experienced the shortcomings of college counseling programs, and they emphasized major elements of successful on-campus support programs for students recovering from mental illness or substance abuse.

Students and experts said these are the best practices for universities to use to help recovering students:

1. Peer support systems

Ivana Grahovac, the executive director of Transforming Youth Recovery and the panel moderator, said peer support is the “hallmark” of the collegiate recovery model.

“It’s so important for our community supporters to know that support will propel us upwards,” Grahovac said. “It’s so important for us to have that support in those early months and years as we’re just starting to turn the tide against the inertia that is inherent in these rigid, monolithic institutions.”

Robert Ashford, a recovery program director at the University of North Texas, said a community of peers is key during recovery. Ashford said he had difficulty finding support during his undergraduate years and emphasized the importance of building a community for students who are seeking support.

“Those allies, whether they are students or family members, grow our program for us. They were our biggest momentum in growing the size of it,” Ashford said.

2. University-wide support for recovery programs

Sarah Nerad, a recovery program manager at Ohio State University, said schools need to “buy in” for a program to last on campus.

“If I’m constantly trying to fight to keep the doors open, I then can’t work with students, and that totally defeats the purpose of the program,” Nerad said.

“That’s what we do. We tell people we believe in you, and we support them and we challenge them, and they thrive,” she said.

3. Giving students a space of their own

Members of Students for Recovery and Jason Whitney, a recovery program coordinator at Pennsylvania State University, are looking at universities like GW to provide independent recovery organizations with their own spaces on campus.

“To help universities get these recovery programs going, there’s a lot of different ways to get there, but eventually what a community recovery program needs is a dedicated space on campus,” Whitney said.