Jacob Lignell, a senior at Michigan State University, shares his journey from struggling with alcohol use to supporting those who struggle with substance use disorders.
By Stacey Winconek
There was a time when Jacob Lignell started his mornings at Michigan State University drinking three shots of vodka. He’d then carry a water bottle filled with alcohol to his classes.
Today, life looks a lot different for the 23-year-old MSU senior. He’s in recovery and works as a housing support specialist through MSU’s collegiate recovery community (CRC), which is one of 10 collegiate recovery programs funded by the Jamie Daniels Foundation. The CRC is part of University Health and Wellbeing, which aims to support the university community with health and wellbeing equitably woven throughout all aspects of life, so students can thrive.
“I’m very proud that MSU offers this resource. I think it’s a wonderful thing, and the Jamie Daniels Foundation really does help with this,” he says. “My role is funded through Jamie Daniels Foundation.”
Lignell’s battle with alcohol use began when he was just 14 years old.
“Throughout high school, I slowly started to go from just drinking maybe like once a month as a freshman. When I was a senior, I was beginning to drink most weekends,” the St. Joseph native says.
His addiction slowly grew as he experimented with psychedelics, pills, party drugs, and marijuana. Covid hit, and Lignell, then a senior in high school, was home every day for a year and a half. During that time, he drank daily.
“I transferred to MSU from a community college as a sophomore, and that’s kind of where I really started to fall off the deep end, especially with my drinking,” he says. “I began to stop using other things and slowly and solely just focus on drinking. It started to become an everyday occurrence.”
These behaviors landed him on academic probation, and he almost flunked out of college. In January 2023, he left MSU to go to a rehabilitation center in Kalamazoo and wasn’t sure if he would ever return to the university. But a Google search for “how to be sober at MSU” helped Lignell choose to return to MSU when he discovered the CRC.
“That changed my life,” Lignell says. He got involved with the CRC, which provides individualized recovery and goal planning, community service opportunities, awareness and education, weekly peer support meetings, sober social events, and recovery housing.
“MSU was the very first university in Michigan to offer recovery housing, and as someone who lived in recovery housing, just as a member and now the recovery housing support specialist, I can say that this resource is so incredibly vital,” he says. “There’s just so many triggers on a college campus. When you’re at another dorm, it’s a very common occurrence to have students actively loudly partying in the room next to you, or they’re walking around on the floor with open containers or leaving stuff in the bathroom.”
The recovery housing floor prohibits any substance, offering a safe place for people who may be struggling. Anyone who identifies as being in recovery, striving for recovery as well as allies can join the CRC. An application and a meeting with the Collegiate Recovery Coordinator is held with anyone who is interested in Recovery Housing to discuss this peer support-based living community and the student’s individual needs.
Being a part of the CRC has been transformative for Lignell and other students in recovery. “The opposite of addiction is connection, and addiction is a rising issue that affects every single person you know. We have learned that all races, all genders, all ages, can struggle with this, and it can manifest in different ways,” he says. “I feel that no harm can come of having a supportive space for students who are just genuinely trying to better themselves.”
