BASICS

Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS) provides specific cognitive-behavioral strategies that aim to reduce harmful consumption and associated problems in students who drink alcohol and use other drugs. Students gradually cut back on alcohol/drug use until they eventually are able to attain lower-risk drinking and abstain from drug use. BASICS is non-confrontational, nonjudgmental, non-authoritarian, and non-labeling.

CSU’s BASICS program is conducted over 50-minute interview sessions as needed. Students complete self-report questionnaires and assessments. Then, they keep a daily log of the number of drinks and/or drugs consumed per day and per week. Therapists assess the student’s consumption pattern and apprise the student of negative behavioral consequences stemming from use of alcohol/drugs and other behaviors that may contribute to the student’s health risks. Personalized feedback based on the assessment, and specific advice about ways to reduce future health risks associated with alcohol/drug use are then reviewed.

This program helps students to gain self-awareness, learn risk factors, and become motivated to reduce or abstain from drug/alcohol use.