Students who have battled with addiction and won will find a safe place to meet, relax and socialize here in Tuscaloosa.

The Collegiate Recovery Community Program, a program created by the Student Health Center, is opening a new building for students who are recovering from addictions.

“It’s like a Ferguson Center for recovering students,” John Maxwell, the director of the SHC, said.

The small one-story building sits on Paul Bryant Drive and was leased to the SHC. Before purchasing the building, Maxwell would host get-togethers with recovering students at his home in Tuscaloosa.

“We would have 12 students at an [Alcoholics Anonymous] meeting on campus, and that was driving me crazy,” Maxwell said.

He decided his home would be a better place for students to feel safer. After a few meetings, the number of students attending at Maxwell’s house would reach 40. The CRC program estimates that it has reached out to about 80 students, and it has awarded scholarships to 16.

Greg Snodgrass, director of the program, said the requirements for a scholarship is a 3.79 GPA and six months of sobriety. The incentive-based scholarships range from $250 to $750 a semester. Many private donors with connections to Tuscaloosa provide sponsorships to the programs. A prominent donor is the Nick’s Kids Foundation.

The United States’s first collegiate recovery program was started at Texas Tech over 25 years ago. Both Downs and Snodgrass were undergraduate students at Texas Tech, and Snodgrass benefited from a recovery scholarship.

“Texas Tech gave me hope that somebody believed in me,” Snodgrass said. “Other SEC schools, such as Auburn, are also starting recovery programs.”

Adam Downs, director of Substance Abuse Counseling and Recovery Services, said the CRC is a support group for students, not a rehabilitation facility.

“This program is about supporting students who are in recovery,” Downs said. “It’s not a treatment center for detox.”

The CRC’s normal business hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.