Providing perspective: WVU School of Nursing professor recommends addiction studies for all types of majors
For Dr. Ashley Tasker, an assistant professor with the West Virginia University School of Nursing, addiction studies is a passion.
“We’re surrounded by substance use disorder (SUD),” Tasker said. “We have to be part of the solution.”
Tasker, who is a licensed professional counselor, teaches the Addiction Studies Capstone Course at WVU, part of an addiction studies minor. The 15-hour minor features five courses — Introduction to Addiction Studies; Addiction Screening & Assessment; Counseling Techniques; Families & Addiction; and Addiction Studies Capstone. Students from a wide variety of majors enroll in the coursework.
“There are some obvious majors, like social work or counseling, but education majors and health sciences majors also participate,” Tasker said. “It’s nice to see so many disciplines coming together in these courses.”
Tasker teaches the capstone along with the program coordinator Frankie Tack, and Kathleen Chiasson-Downs, the lead clinician for addiction studies in WVU School of Medicine Department of Behavioral Medicine. The capstone course integrates the addiction studies coursework through the study of ethics, selected population research, and community-based service learning, culminating in a research paper and oral presentation.
“I have done addiction treatment in jail programs, intensive outpatient treatment, and women’s programs,” Tasker shared. “I am very passionate about higher education, so this position was a great fit for me.”
Both the coursework and clinical work are personal for Tasker, as she has a brother who suffers from SUD. She finds her work highly fulfilling, being able to help students find their passion, too.
“Some students in the addiction studies minor have been directly impacted, either themselves or a loved one. Even if they don’t know how their career will combine with the minor, it provides great perspective.”
For nursing students and students going into health-related fields, Tasker said the coursework can provide important perspective about the patients they’ll be treating.
“I think every single career could benefit from an addiction studies minor, because at some point, almost every career will cross paths with someone who needs treatment, someone who is in treatment or someone who’s in long-term recovery.”
Drew O’Connell, a 2021 graduate from WVU, received an addiction studies minor along with his Regents Bachelor of Arts. For him, the training was especially close to home.
“I was one of the first to go through Jacob’s Ladder, a long-term substance use treatment program in Aurora,” O’Connell said. “After six months of in-patient treatment, it saved my life.”
He said he was interested in going back to school, but he doubted himself.
“I thought, ‘There’s no way I can go back to school, I’m an addict.’ But I found that WVU has a great Collegiate Recovery Program. I also got plenty of scholarship help, too.”
With financial support and the support of Collegiate Recovery, O’Connell was able to graduate at age 32 in December 2021. Using his personal experience and the knowledge he gained from his studies, he took a position as a clinical counselor at a treatment facility in Charleston, South Carolina.
O’Connell said he felt very well prepared for his professional work following his education. He said his experience was excellent especially throughout the addiction studies minor, including in his capstone course with Tasker.
“As soon as you come into contact with her, you can feel the compassion,” he said. “As someone who’s in recovery, it’s like a sixth sense. To be able to sit down in a classroom and have people care about me from a scholarly point of view, with them understanding substance use is a disease, it was incredible.”
To learn more, visit addiction.wvu.edu.
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CONTACT: Wendy Holdren
Director of Communications and Marketing
WVU School of Nursing
304-581-1772; wendy.holdren@hsc.wvu.edu