Editor's Note: This is the last in a three-part series examining mental health at the College. Today's article examines the creation of HealThy Self House, a new organization designed to provide a safe space for students suffering from substance abuse and other emotional challenges.
For Bill Sjogren '67, Dartmouth is a bittersweet place. Between classes, football and baseball practice, friends and fraternity life, Sjogren spent much of his four years as an undergraduate privately suffering from alcoholism.
Sjogren, who has been sober for the past seven and a half years, returned to the Hanover area four years ago to help young people who may be experiencing similar problems. Through the creation of HealThy Self House, Sjogren and those working with him hope to provide a supportive, 24-hour space for high school and college students struggling with the challenges of personal growth and addictive behaviors. The organization, established last year, will begin searching for a physical plant in the spring.
While at Dartmouth, Sjogren struggled to define his illness, as so many around him exhibited similar relationships with alcohol.
"I was looking for what 'normal' was, and everyone around me seemed to be like that -- the many people I saw were just like me," Sjogren said, recalling his undergraduate experience at Dartmouth where he claims he could not find support for overcoming his addiction.
After Dartmouth, Sjogren continued to struggle with alcoholism and said it hurt his relationships with others so much that his marriage ended in divorce and he lost his job. He then decided to return to Hanover.
"I didn't have a sense of home, and I had always had a real positive gut feeling about this area," Sjogren said. "Combining my desire to do some good in my life and establish a home, I moved up here and I did so."
Sjogren, who said he likes to believe that he is "composting the rot in [his] life into healthy fertilizers for Dartmouth students," initially spent time working with the Dartmouth Center on Addiction, Recovery, and Education. He soon felt he needed to offer students more than just a nexus for referrals and decided to charter HSH.
"It was increasingly clear that there were students who wanted to look into their relationship with alcohol, drugs and other behaviors but were unwilling to go on record and have their name in a file," Sjogren said. "Anonymity was what they were looking for."
After unsuccessful attempts to make HSH a College-recognized program, due to limited funding, Sjogren and his colleagues decided to make the organization an independently-run facility for Dartmouth and Hanover High School students, he said. While the organization will run independently, the HSH Summary Document states that the Board of Trustees, the administration and the athletic association, among others, have endorsed HSH by signing the letter of support.
After preliminary discussions with a broad cross-section of the student body, Sjogren noted that alcohol abuse, heroin use, eating disorders, sexual abuse and online gambling are issues plaguing Dartmouth students.
HSH is not a medical support facility but rather a safe environment for students to talk freely with others about their concerns, Sjogren said. The house can be a first step for students before they seek professional help at Dick's House. Trained peer volunteers will be available at HSH to offer advice to those in need. HSH will largely be student-run, Sjogren said, adding that he hopes it will serve as an alternate space for students to socialize.
The organization hopes to raise enough funding to maintain a 24-hour staff of either paid workers or volunteers.
HSH, a recognized N.H. non-profit organization, will begin fundraising in the spring, hoping to initially garner between $50,000 and $100,000, Sjogren said.
The physical plant will ideally be located within walking distance of both Hanover High and the Dartmouth campus. HSH will likely need to secure a rental unit until the organization can raise enough money to buy a house.
Each of the eleven members of HSH's Board of Directors have directly or indirectly dealt with mental illness in the past, Sjogren said. Board members include Chairman Joseph O'Donnell, senior advising dean and professor at Dartmouth Medical School, former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop '37, who serves as an honorary board member, and student representatives Sandy Barbut '08 and Stephen Hunt '08.
Hunt, who said he confronted circumstances that rose from excessive alcohol consumption during his freshman year, acknowledged that a space like HSH, as an alternate to fraternity basements, would have helped him at the time.
"HealThy Self House is not condemning the Greek system, but is just available for those who want something different," Hunt, a member of Gamma Delta Chi fraternity, said.
Sjogren has been working closely with Hunt, Barbut and other student volunteers to assess HSH's potential for success on the Dartmouth campus. The group has heard only positive responses from Dartmouth and the surrounding community, they said.
A student who suffers from anxiety and depression said she supports the concept behind HSH but questioned its accessibility, after learning about the organization in an interview with The Dartmouth. The student asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of her illness.
"My initial thought is that, in the abstract it would be really amazing," she said. "But only if someone were to get the impetus to go there. It is hard to walk in alone and be like, 'I need help. I need to talk to someone.'"
Matt McDonald '09, who suffers from bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder, said he would likely not utilize the organization's resources, claiming it would make him uncomfortable and self-conscious.
"It sounds kind of silly to me, but to some people it could be really very helpful," McDonald said. "I think that the more houses there are like this, the more stigmatized you are going to make the issues. I think support groups are great. If you keep them relatively anonymous, you will get more people. If there was something more private, and not a fixed plant, I would be more likely to do it"
Barbut and Hunt are not worried about student reception to the program, they said.
"On a campus like this, there is always risk that this could be seen as an 'uncool' thing," Hunt said. "We are hoping that even one or two percent of students will be interested. Even if it's just a couple hundred people that come, it will be worth it."
-- Staff reporter Drew Joseph contributed to this report.
