When Michael Young steps into the kitchen at PICNIC, UBC Okanagan’s campus wellness program, he feels grounded—steady in a way he once believed impossible.

“Preparing and serving those meals gave me belonging,” he says. “It helped me rebuild my connection to others, one student at a time.”

A fourth-year psychology honours student, Michael has devoted his degree to understanding human behaviour, trauma and recovery—subjects that shaped his life long before university. More than 20 years ago, he was the direct cause of a construction accident that took his best friend’s life. He struggled to cope, turning to substances to numb the pain. Eventually, his life collapsed. He found himself unhoused, living in a tent, feeling isolated and unsure how to move forward.

“Recovery, education, and community—those were the things that helped me find myself again,” he says.

After completing the required academic courses and excelling at Okanagan College, Michael arrived at UBC Okanagan determined to build a new future—thanks in part to donor-supported entrance awards. But when he first stepped onto campus, he felt the kind of isolation many students quietly face.

“It’s a crazy thing to feel alone in a room full of people,” he says. “I knew the best way to reconnect was through service.”

That instinct led him to volunteer for PICNIC, where he helped prepare 175 free meals each week. With each shift, he found acceptance, friendship and a renewed sense of purpose. That was the first leg of what he calls his “tripod of connection, community and support”—a structure he had to rebuild from the ground up.

Those early connections also inspired him to create something entirely new on campus—Reduction and Recovery: Mocktail Meetups, an all-pathways recovery program he founded to support students and staff. Every week, participants gather to talk about relationships, substances and healthier living—without judgment or pressure.

“These gatherings aren’t about abstinence,” he explains. “They’re about building healthy lives, healthier relationships with substances, with each other and with ourselves.”

What began as an idea has become a thriving community. Despite being a much smaller campus than Vancouver, UBC Okanagan’s mocktail meetups draw almost as many regular attendees—proof, he says, that the need is real and that belonging can save lives.

“Community isn’t something you stumble into,” he says. “It’s something you build.”

Behind all of this work—his academic success, his leadership, his advocacy—is the support he received through the UBC Okanagan Entrance Award and the Roger W. Gale Centennial Scholars Entrance Award. These awards, he says, provided him with something invaluable: time.

“Scholarships don’t just pay for school—they give you time,” he says. “Time to study, to serve, to be present with my daughters and to create spaces where others can belong. That’s the most precious gift anyone can have.”

They also offered something deeper: a sense of worth.

“For someone to invest in me—after everything I’ve been through—I was in shock,” he says. “Their belief helped me believe in myself.”

Today, Michael is preparing applications for a master’s program, with hopes of eventually earning a PhD focused on addictions, trauma and recovery.

“My lived experience gives me a different perspective,” he says. “If I can help people find healing sooner—to feel seen, understood and supported—then everything I’ve been through becomes something I can use for good.”

From PICNIC’s bustling kitchen to quiet moments of connection in mocktail meetups, Michael’s journey shows how donor support can rebuild a life—and ripple outward into countless others.

“Connection, community, support,” he says. “Those three things changed my life. And now I get to help strengthen them for others.”