National Recovery Month
The month of September is National Recovery Month. This is a time when individuals in recovery and individuals who haven’t experienced recovery are made more aware of the struggles, challenges, and successes of individuals who are in or have been through addiction recovery. The month encourages facilities to highlight the courage and strength of individuals who have worked through addiction recovery and encourages individuals to share their success stories about prevention, treatment, and recovery with those who may be struggling with addiction.
The National Recovery Month was started 28 years ago by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to help to normalize the disease of addiction (samhsa.gov). Similar to the way success stories have been celebrated with health conditions like cancer, heart disease or diabetes, each September, tens of thousands of prevention, treatment and recovery programs and facilities from around the country celebrate the strides made in the recovery community. These celebrations may include walks, get-togethers, classes, movie screenings, entertainment, or sponsored runs.
SAMHSA chose the theme, “Join the Voices for Recovery: Strengthen Families and Communities” for 2017. They indicate that the theme was chosen to, “highlight the value of family and community support throughout recovery and invite individuals in recovery and their family members to share their personal stories and successes with their neighbors, friends and colleagues” (samhsa.gov).
Joining in this celebration and awareness month can strengthen those around you in their recovery or can help prevention of addiction in your life. The SAMHSA website, samhsa.gov, has lots of great information and ideas for being a part of National Recovery Month this year.