Individual Support
SUPER offers free, private, short-term support to members of the Stanford student community, providing a range of educational resources on substance use, including alcohol, cannabis, nicotine, and other substances. We are committed to helping you make informed choices, whether you're seeking to learn more about substance use, explore harm reduction strategies, or address your own substance-related concerns.
Note
SUPER does not offer clinical substance use treatment services, or ongoing long-term therapy support, but can refer students to those services if appropriate.
Here's How We Can Help
BASICS is an evidence-based program aimed at helping students reflect on their alcohol use and understand its impact on their health, academics, and social life. Through a one-on-one consultation, students receive personalized feedback and guidance on how to make informed decisions about drinking. BASICS helps students explore patterns of behavior and offers strategies for reducing harm or changing drinking habits in a non-judgmental, supportive environment.
BASICS is designed to assist students in examining their own drinking behavior in a judgment free environment. All students at Stanford University are welcome to sign-up for BASICS. There is no charge to do BASICS.
We offer tailored nicotine use and cessation visits to assist students who wish to quit using tobacco or vaping products. Nicotine addiction can be challenging to overcome without the right support, and our program provides guidance, motivation, and accountability throughout the quitting process. Students will learn coping strategies, receive personalized quit plans, and have access to ongoing support for nicotine dependence.
Our goal is to help students assess the impact of cannabis use on their physical and mental health, academic performance, and overall well-being. We use harm reduction strategies to help students make informed choices, develop healthier habits, and set personal goals, depending on their needs and desires.
Whether you're concerned about prescription medication misuse, stimulants, opioids, or other substances, our team is here to help. We provide educational resources, harm reduction tools, and personalized strategies to promote safer use or facilitate the decision to stop using substances that may be affecting your health, relationships, or academic success.
What Can You Expect When You Meet With SUPER?
SUPER provides alcohol safety education and non-clinical counseling to students, focusing on risk reduction and overall well-being. We meet with students typically twice:
- First Meeting: The goal is to understand the student’s concerns, their relationship with substance use, and assess their support needs. They create a risk reduction plan together, setting goals related to substance use and health, and discuss strategies to try out over the next few weeks.
- Second Meeting: They reflect on how the risk reduction plan worked, adjust it as needed, and explore additional supports or referrals if necessary.
What Are the Different Reasons Students Come to SUPER for a 1:1 Meeting?
Students come to SUPER for one-on-one meetings for various reasons, including concerns about their own use or a friend’s substance use, or a desire to learn more about the effects of alcohol and drugs. Students may self-refer to explore their relationship with substances, or they are referred after an alcohol or drug-related policy violation.
Our approach includes one-on-one Substance Use Support Sessions tailored to your needs, where you can schedule either an educational meeting or a recovery-focused session. We use a harm reduction framework to support safer drinking and substance use practices, along with a brief intervention model that encourages open, non-judgmental conversations and practical strategies for reducing risk. Whether you're looking for guidance or need support navigating recovery, we're here to help. Student’s can self-refer to SUPER by simply signing up for a time with us using the one-on-one scheduling link or by emailing us here.
Students will meet with both their Residence Director (RD) and SUPER following a serious alcohol or other drug-related policy violation. On the SUPER side, students can expect the same process as outlined above. SUPER takes an educational, non-disciplinary approach, focusing on meeting the student where they are and identifying the student’s goals for change.
We also work with student organization leaders and consult around various issues they may be observing with their organization's behaviors and attitudes around substance use. Sometimes these consults happen after a group has gone through the Stanford Group Accountability Process (SGAP) process and other times, a group reaches out proactively on their own to learn how to assess/create a healthier, safer, culture around substance use.
1:1 Educational Meetings
In our educational one-on-one meetings, you’ll meet with one of our Substance Use Educators who can help you develop a plan for safer drinking, learn tools to modify substance use, give you personalized feedback, develop substance use cessation planning (including nicotine), and/or assist in referring you to additional resources.
Recovery 1:1s
Sober curious or wanting to learn more about addiction recovery at Stanford? What does recovery even mean? In our recovery one-on-one meetings, you’ll meet with our Collegiate Recovery Coordinator who can answer your questions, get you connected with peer support group meetings on or off-campus, and familiarize you with Cardinal Recovery’s program offerings such as no-cost substance-free alternatives to having fun.
DIP/MIP
The most common alcohol citations at Stanford
To be under the influence of alcohol in a public place and unable to exercise care for one’s own safety or that of others (Cal. Penal Code 647(f)).
For persons under 21 to have any container of alcohol in any public place or any place open to the public (Business and Professions Code 25662). To be under the influence of alcohol in a public place and unable to exercise care for one’s own safety or that of others (Cal. Penal Code 647(f)).
So, let's say Sarah, a frosh, is at a party and she's drinking out of a red cup. A Public Safety officer enters the party. She's cool, it's her first and only beer. She doesn't appear to be under the influence and clearly can take care of herself. So far, so good.Her friend, Zach, is also drinking beer out of a red cup, sees the officer, startles because he's afraid he'll get in trouble, and runs outside. The officer gets concerned about Zach's bolting act, so he follows him outside.Uh, oh - MIP citation likely. He's a minor who is drinking and it doesn't help that he was actively avoiding the officers. They're here to help our students, not just to throw out citations.Now, let's say their housemate Jessie, is weaving and wobbling around outside to get some much needed air. The Officer notices her because she's obviously staggering around. It's questionable whether or not she can take care of her own safety. Uh, oh - DIP, and maybe MIP, citation is likely. Because she may not be able to care for her own safety, she could be taken to the "drunk tank" in Santa Clara County jail to sober up. In that case, her residence staff will be notified. A court date might be set to address her MIP/DIP.
Drinking and Driving
No one can deny that drunk driving is a serious problem. In addition to legal consequences for drinking and driving, the real impact is to our Stanford community, friends and peers. Drunk driving breaks our community's trust.
- Note: A drunk driving arrest on-campus is an automatic referral to the Office of Community Standards as a possible Fundamental Standard violation.
The Law considers intoxication to be a Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of .08% or more for those 21 years of age and older; for minors (under 21), the BAC limit is even lower: 0.01%. A first Driving Under the Influence (DUI) carries a variety of unpleasant consequences:
- At least 48 hours in jail
- $4 000-5000 in court costs, fines, and attorney fees
- Suspension or revocation of your driver's license for 6 months, unless you're granted court probation-in which case you'll have at least a 90-day restricted license. Probation would last at least 3 years, subject to revocation if, during that time you drove with ANY measurable amount of alcohol in your bloodstream or committed ANY criminal offense.
- Your car insurance will skyrocket
- You will lose points on your driving record
- You may have your car impounded
- There is a 24-hour service called 5-SURE. Call 650.725.7873 from a non-University phone to get a ride by a super-deluxe golf cart anywhere on campus
- The Marguerite, Stanford's free bus/shuttle, also runs in the evenings
- The time-honored techniques of designating a sober driver is a perennial favorite or taking the car keys away from a drinking friend who thinks he or she is "just fine, leave me alone!"
Even when no clear alternative presents itself, the risks to life and limb, to yourself and others by drinking and driving are so staggering that it's more than worth it to simply stay put and sober up or walk home with someone.
Our responsibility as Stanford students is formalized in the Fundamental Standard, and a drunk driving incident may be brought to a Judicial Panel, which will likely assess penalties such as suspension, community service, and loss of driving privileges on campus.
Other Common Citations
Here are common reasons for students to have received citations on campus.
- Providing any alcoholic beverage to a person under 21 or to any obviously intoxicated person
- Being under the influence of alcohol in a public place and unable to exercise care for one's own safety or that of others
- Operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or other intoxicants or with a blood alcohol level of .08% or higher
- Having an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle
- For any person under the age of 21 to operate a motor vehicle with any amount of alcohol in their system
- Having an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle and for persons under 21 to drive a vehicle carrying alcohol or to possess alcohol while in a motor vehicle
- For persons under 21 to have any container of alcohol in any public place or any place open to the public
- For any person under age 21 to purchase alcohol
- Having in one's possession or to use false evidence of age and identity to purchase alcohol
For more info, please refer to the California Penal Code.
