DAPA Training, Complete

Today, I finally finished my DAPA training, so I'm officially a DAPA! For those not yet versed in Dartmouth-speak, DAPA stands for "Drug and Alcohol Peer Advisor," and it requires twenty-five hours of training over the course of the ten week term. It's a huge time commitment, but it was definitely worth it. About thirteen of us made it through the ten weeks, and we've grown close as a group, as well as learning an incredible amount of information.

I've always been fascinated by students' relationship with alcohol, and this class was a really great way for me to learn more about this topic. The course was headed by Dr. Bryant Ford, a staff psychologist at Dick's House, the campus health center. Bryant, as he insisted we call him, was a great guy, and really knew his stuff! What I liked best about the course was that it was never presented as being preachy or cautionary - it was purely informational.

Almost every week, we would have a different speaker come in to talk to us about various aspects of life with alcohol. During one session, we got to discuss issues surrounding alcohol and the family with a Anna Meyerrose, a resident counselor and specialist in the area of alcoholism and drug abuse. Another week, we were visited by Leah Prescott, the Sexual Abuse Awareness Coordinator, and today, we were lucky enough to have a panel of administrators to grill with questions; the panel consisted of the head of Safety and Security (the campus security force), the head of Judicial Affairs, one of the Upperclass Deans, and the head nurse from the student health center.

I think the best thing about the training was the set of communication and listening skills I gained. We often practiced with different scenarios of what we might be dealing with in the future, and I think by the end, I was a much more active and attentive listener than I was ten weeks ago!

As an active DAPA, most of what I'll be doing is helping friends to make better choices, and hopefully being safer if and when they choose to drink. I know I'll feel much better going to parties having a clear idea of what to do in an emergency; I'm also glad for the opportunity to have learned so much more about the College's policies concerning discipline and medical help in situations involving alcohol.