Celebrate National Recovery Month 2016!

August 30, 2016

Maureen Fitzgerald
ATTC Network Coordinating Office/NIATx

National Recovery Month 2016:

Join the Voices for Recovery: Our families, our stories, our recovery

This year, SAMHSA observes the 27^th year of National Recovery Month. With the theme “Join the Voices for Recovery: Our families, our stories, our recovery,” National Recovery Month 2016 acknowledges and celebrates the millions of Americans who are living in recovery from mental and substance use disorders.

Here’s a sampling of just some of the great resources the National Recovery Month website offers to help you organize and promote an event in your community, share stories, or broadcast the message that recovery in all its forms is possible:

National Recovery Month Toolkit

Think it’s too late to organize or promote a National Recovery Month event, or contact your local media to spread the word? Well, think again—the National Recovery Month Toolkit has everything you need to publicize a recovery month event, work with the media, issue a proclamation (Go Badgers!), and support diverse communities in recovery.  You can download a PDF of the kit in English or Spanish. Now go ahead and send an Op-Ed to your local paper—there’s even a sample that you can tweak and make your own. 

Our families

How do families promote recovery from mental or substance use disorders? And how do family members take care of themselves while supporting a loved one with a substance use disorder? Find out by tuning in to the September 2016 episode of the Road to Recovery Television and Radio Series, hosted by Associate Director for Consumer Affairs Ivette Torres at the SAMHSA Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. The episode, Building Family Resiliency: Supporting Recovery, airs on September 5.  Here’s a sneak preview:

The 2016 series kicked off in March, with new episodes airing each month. You can also view recordings of previous episodes focused on the theme of families and recovery. Watch the April episode to get an overview of how substance use disorders can cross generations within a family; check out the July episode to find out more about treatment and prevention in diverse LGBT families.

Our stories

The free public service announcements (PSAs) that National Recovery Month sum it up: we’ve all been affected in some way by a mental health or substance use disorder.  Sharing stories of recovery can help change attitudes and reverse the stigma attached to these conditions, or having a family member affected by them.

How to share personal stories

Again this year, National Recovery Month invites people to share their personal stories of recovery either online or through email.

The ATTC Network is also offering ways for people to share their stories.

First, there’s the ATTC Network Coordinating Office “In My Own Words” International Essay Contest, in partnership with Faces & Voices of Recovery and Facing Addiction. Recognizing the global reach of the recovery movement, this year’s essay contest invites entries from the U.S. and abroad. Prizes will be awarded to the top three entries.

The Central East ATTC will also be highlighting personal stories of recovery in

the September issue of its newsletter, Dialogue. Click here for complete details.

The National American Indian/Alaska Native ATTC is seeking stories from

American Indian and Alaska Native adolescents in recovery. These stories will be shared on a blog on the National American Indian & Alaska Native ATTC website and other social media. For more information on how to participate, email the Center: americanindianalaskanative@attcnetwork.org

Our recovery

Mention “recovery,” and some might think you’re talking about the economy.  People with substance use or mental health disorders and their families know what it means to be “in recovery,” but the definition may be less clear to others. Let’s use National Recovery Month tools to educate our nation about recovery and share SAMHSA’s message that behavioral health is essential to overall health, prevention works, treatment is effective and people can and do recover.