Eagles for Recovery, Eastern Washington University’s recovery program, hosted a grand opening of their newly-appointed lounge on April 8.

The event consisted of a catered brunch and space for the attendees to mingle and meet the staff. Although the room was set up to comfortably seat five people and the staff, due to the high turnout at times, a few people had resorted to standing and conversing in the hall outside.

“Don’t worry, we’ll have lots more seating after today when the food isn’t here,” joked Michael McClung, an Eagles for Recovery staff member and psychological counselor, at the grand opening.

Eagles for Recovery began at the university in March 2023 after the Counseling and Wellness Center received a grant to create a collegiate recovery program, and has consistently hosted weekly all-recovery meetings for students to connect and receive support.

“Before, all we had were meetings and those can be intimidating or off-putting to people,” said Mikiala Hersel, an Eagles for Recovery staff member and master’s student. “The lounge will offer students the ability to come connect with friends or study, and come get support, in a lower pressure environment. We will still be keeping the meetings for students who want to attend them.”

In addition to support from peers, Eagles for Recovery can help connect students to resources both on and off the campus.

“We have counselors students can talk to privately, and we have a lot of outside resources and referrals we can help students with,” Hersel said.

Although the Eagles for Recovery program is centered around recovery, program staff encourage everyone to come visit the space.

“The lounge is for everyone, with a focus on recovery and curiosity about recovery,” Hersel said. “We would love to see recovery allies using the lounge as well.”

The Eagles for Recovery lounge is located at Showalter room 118, and is open to EWU students four days a week: Monday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday from noon to 3 p.m., and Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“We’ve been talking about times for Thursdays, but we haven’t found anything that works out yet,” Hersel said.