University Health Services (UHS) welcomes four community health educators to lead Penn State's revised alcohol intervention program. David Mallen, Jessica Nabozny, Steven Shephard, and Katie Tenny will lead the Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS) program.
"Because Penn State students come here with various backgrounds, so do our new health educators," said Suzanne Zeman, UHS Coordinator for Educational Services, who oversees the program, said. "We are really interested in helping our students lead healthier lives while here at Penn State and the BASICS program can help us do that regarding alcohol related behavior."
The community health educators will provide counseling to Penn State students who have an alcohol violation on- or off-campus or an alcohol-related visit to the emergency department at Mount Nittany Medical Center in State College, Pa. Effective this fall the BASICS program will be mandatory in these instances.
The new staff were selected to join the Health Promotion and Wellness (HPW) team for their knowledge of alcohol issues affecting college students as well as their counseling and interpersonal skills.
David Mallen joins UHS after 9 years of teaching math and science at St. Jerome Elementary School in Los Angeles, Calif. He is a certified Project Alert Drug Prevention instructor and earned his Master of Education at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Ariz., in 2004.
Jessica Nabozny's prior experience includes counseling students at the Juniata College Health and Wellness Center and working as the MR Supports Coordinator at The Meadows Hospital in Huntingdon, Pa. She received her Master of Social Work at Temple University in 2010.
Steven Shephard completed his Master of Science in Physical Education at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill. in 1980 and pursued his Master of Science in Counselor Education at Penn State while assistant coaching the women’s gymnastics team from 1989-1993. During his 18 years as head coach, 23 gymnasts earned All-American honors, six were named Big Ten Gymnast of the Year, and Shephard was voted Big Ten Coach of the Year three times.
Katie Tenny, a former Admissions Counselor at York College of Nebraska, completed her Master of Education in Counselor Education from Penn State in 2010. She brings six years' experience of counseling from York High School and State College Area High School.
"We are really excited to have such an enthusiastic new staff in place for the BASICS program," Zeman said. "The community health educators are very passionate about helping students make lower risk decisions to prevent further negative consequences from drinking alcohol."
BASICS was designed for college students 18 to 24 years old who drink heavily and have experienced negative consequences as a result. As a harm reduction approach, BASICS counselors motivate students to reduce risky behaviors rather than just focusing on abstinence. Students who are concerned about their drinking but have not had an alcohol incident can take BASICS as a self-referral at no charge.
Health Promotion and Wellness helps students get healthy and stay healthy. For additional information or questions about BASICS or other programs offered through HPW, call 814-863-0461 or stop by room 201 in the Student Health Center on Penn State's University Park campus.