"The Bachelorette" Contestant Zac Clark on Substance Abuse & Recovery

It’s never been “easy” to send children off to college. These days, it’s terrifying. Students face a constellation of dangers: A no-holds-barred party culture. Access to substances that are more addictive—and deadlier—than ever. Skyrocketing levels of depression, anxiety, and suicide ideation. What’s more, this generation is chronically sleep-deprived; addicted to their smartphones; and desperate to be seen, heard, and accepted.

It’s a recipe for disaster, says Zac Clark, founder and CEO of Release Recovery, a substance use disorder and mental health organization based in New York that offers transitional living, case management, interventions, and other recovery and family support services. Many of Release’s clients are students, and Clark’s own addiction progressed while he was a student—as he explains on a new podcast pulling back the curtain on the college experience and showing parents the real challenges and risks their teens are facing.

If Clark’s name sounds familiar, it may be because in 2020, he received the final rose on ABC’s "The Bachelorette", where he publicly addressed his sobriety on national television. Clark is also the founding board member of the Release Recovery Foundation, a nonprofit whose mission is to remove financial barriers to treatment for underserved communities through DEI and LGBTQIA+ scholarships, to educate Americans about lifesaving tools like NARCAN, and to build community to break the stigma around addiction and mental health.

For more information, visit the website for Release Recovery Foundation.