Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation awards $150,000 grant to Rams in Recovery

Virginia Commonwealth University’s Recovery Scholars Program received a $150,000 grant from Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation in June.

The Recovery Scholars Program is the signature program of VCU’s Rams in Recovery, Virginia’s largest collegiate recovery program. The program supports students in recovery from substance use disorder who are actively engaged in a continuous healing process. It was established in 2019 with a group of 17 students, more than doubling in size over the next year. The program now serves 95 students. 

Students attend weekly Recovery Scholars seminars, actively participate in a recovery plan, engage with community events and commit to service in the local or university recovery community. Students who complete these requirements receive a $500 scholarship each semester. 

Students can continue to participate and receive scholarship funds until they graduate. Katy McCormack (M.S.’24) began her practicum at Rams in Recovery in 2023, while she was studying rehabilitation and mental health counseling in the VCU College of Health Professions. Throughout this time, she participated in groups to support her own recovery and engage with the program. When her practicum was finished, McCormack began interning at Rams in Recovery and continued her work with the program as a peer recovery specialist after she graduated.

“When I started working with Rams in Recovery, I had a clinical background and I was a bit skeptical about non-clinical help. I didn’t go to recovery meetings, and I didn’t think they would help me,” McCormack says. “But I started going to seminars and meetings at Rams in Recovery and I was knocked down a few pegs. I actually saw how these peer relationships led to communal healing. I realized how much help I had been denying myself.”

“So often, substance use can be very isolating and it feels like something you can’t tell anybody about,” McCormack says. “Rams in Recovery has created this space where you’re encouraged to talk about it. In that space, you find students who have this knowledge and this empathy that you don’t really see in other places.”

The grant from Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation will be distributed over the next three years and will support the program as it continues to grow in size and reach. The foundation was also a title sponsor of the Recovery Scholars Breakfast on November 18th. 

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