Today marks the kickoff of National Recovery Month (Recovery Month). This is the 33rd year of this important awareness event which is held every September. Recovery month began in 1989, as a month-long event to promote and support new evidence-based treatment and recovery practices. In addition, it celebrates and acknowledges the Nation’s recovery community, and the dedication of the service providers and communities who work in the field of addiction treatment and recovery.
In 2020, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced its decision to retire its annual convening of Recovery Month stakeholders as well as the development of future themes and assets, and the management of the events calendar. Faces & Voices of Recovery is now the official organizer of Recovery Month, and they have created a new Recovery Month website that hosts all Recovery Month events and assets that make this celebration possible. You can download shareable graphics, view the many celebration events and more on the Recovery Month website.
There’s an estimated 23+ million people whose lives have been transformed because of recovery. Since these successes largely go unnoticed, and stigma still exists, Recovery Month provides a vehicle for everyone to celebrate these accomplishments. One important way for this to occur is through the power of storytelling. Ezra Rose shares how storytelling helps to assist in prevention and in recovery in this insightful blog post, Break the Mold, The Power of Storytelling in Prevention.
Addiction Professionals work tirelessly to help those living with addiction to get on the road to recovery. There’s an estimated 20+ million people who currently have a substance use disorder who are in treatment or need treatment services. On September 20th, we celebrate addiction professionals who work in the health system and continuum of care with National Addiction Professionals Day. The day was established 30 years ago by NAADAC to commemorate all the hard work that addiction professionals do on a daily basis.