Addiction recovery advocate and TikTok persona Riley Whelan shared her experiences and guidance on substance addiction and mental health in an interview with The Daily Cardinal.
Whelan is the social media manager for Recovery.com, a website assisting people of all income levels to find treatment centers for addiction and mental health recovery. She manages four podcasts including “Brain Dump,” where she asks strangers questions related to mental health.
“Alcoholism is way more prevalent in younger people than we recognize, especially [on] college campuses,” Whelan told The Cardinal.
University Health Services data shows UW-Madison students drink at higher rates than the national average. A 2024 National College Health Assessment study found that 37% of UW-Madison undergraduates drink at high-risk levels, and a 2025 Healthy Minds survey found students who use alcohol reported lower levels of loneliness than others on campus, indicating that alcohol often serves as a pathway to connection and belonging on campus.
“I think a lot of young people get confused when it comes to where the line is [with alcohol], but you can draw a line in the sand,” Whelan said. “And you don't have to cross it ever again if you don't want to.”
Whelan previously dropped out of college and lost her job after suffering from the effects of drug and alcohol addiction, she said. Following two rehab experiences, she began sharing her recovery story on TikTok and became a social media advocate for addiction and mental health. She now has over 267,000 followers on TikTok, where she speaks to her audience about alcoholism and her journey to sobriety.
Whelan hopes to use her story to help people suffering from addiction to “get sober and get help,” she said.
Her overarching goal isn’t to make anyone hate alcohol, but to encourage people to reach out to others for support and say something when they see someone else struggling.
“If you really care about your friends and you see something, it's your responsibility to say something, and that's the best way you can love somebody that you truly care about,” she said. “One person can save someone's life.”
Whelan said UW-Madison students have resources within a school that wants to support them, pointing to social media as a way the university could make those resources more accessible.
“More colleges can use social media as a power for good, to spread awareness for the resources that they have available for students who might be in a mental health crisis,” Whelan said.
Although there’s still shame surrounding addiction and mental health, the stigma has decreased as celebrities and public figures speak more openly about their struggles, she said.
“Someone sharing their story with me changed my life,” Whelan said. “I feel like the more that I try to do that, whether it's me… talking to TikTok or me talking one-on-one with someone in real life — that could save someone's life.”
She hopes her work with Recovery.com helps people in Wisconsin — including students — learn where to receive affordable care for recovering from addiction.
“A lot of people, when they recognize that they have a problem with alcohol, they don't initially want to do anything about it, and that's very normal,” Whelan said. “But they also don't know what their options are if they do eventually want to get help. I want my impact in the Wisconsin area to show people there are options if they ever need to get sober.”
