While some remember college as some of the best years of their lives, for Amber Tozer it was the start of a long journey to the bottom of a bottle. At seven years old, she tasted her first drink and then at 13 she snuck out of her house and got blackout drunk for the first time.
By the time Tozer started college, she was managing her drinking around basketball and her studies, but always desperately waiting for that next drink. Now, she is ten years sober and, as a part of Omicron Delta Kappa’s Addiction and Recovery week, gave a talk about her journey and what she loves about being a sober person.
Coming from a family of alcoholics, Tozer's top challenges in overcoming her addiction were not worrying about what other people thought and negotiating relationships with drinking buddies. Although Tozer recovered after her time in college, she still had advice for a recovering addict in a college environment.
"I think it's important to read, write and talk about it," Tozer says. "Surround yourself with people who are going to help you."
Her top rewards were feeling great in the morning and discovering new things about herself she didn't even know. For example, she talks about the pure excitement she got from something as simple as discovering that she loves blueberries.
After sharing her journey, Tozer took questions and gave advice to students who wanted to know what to say to a friend they think may be an alcoholic.
"You have to take care of yourself and just be a good example and I think calling [alcoholics] out is huge," Tozer says. "This one girl told me once, she told me off in New York and I'll never forget it."
Others wanted to know how to tell the difference between a potential alcoholic and someone who just likes to party.
"Every time alcohol enters their mouth they have too much," Tozer says. "Blacking out, causing a scene, throwing up and then maybe if they talk about it in a way where they laugh it off."
Madi Carzon, third-year public relations major and vice president of special projects for ODK, was excited to have Tozer speaking about her experiences in sobriety, since one of the aspects of college life Carzon would like to see change is the tendency toward a drinking culture.
Carzon praised USC for the actions it already takes on the drinking culture, naming AlcoholEDU and freshman orientation as excellent starting points, but believes that more should be done on a personal level between incoming students and the organizations they join.
“We can be more grassroots with our ability to change the culture,” Carzon says. “As much as the university provides, we aren't going to be receptive to it unless we change how we feel and how we are interacting with our friends.”
Carzon believes that events like Addiction and Recovery week are a good way to start the dialogue about the drinking culture on a college campus and that dialogue is the first step to improvement.
“We’re facing a hard future because we do have incoming freshmen who are so worried about the drinking culture and fitting in,” Carzon says. “I want to make sure that I provide a positive outlet for those new girls.”