National Recovery Month

September is National Recovery Month which aims to educate Americans on addiction and treatment which enables those with substance abuse issues to live a healthy and rewarding life. Its main focus is to praise publicly the gains made by those in recovery. Recovery Month spreads the positive message that prevention works, treatment is effective, people can and do recover by encouraging citizens to help expand, and improve the availability of effective prevention, treatment, and recovery services.

Rice County Drug Court shares in educating the public on the issues of substance abuse, how addicts interact with criminal justice system, and acknowledging participant’s successes. Drug Court allows those whose criminal activity is driven by their addiction to reclaim their lives and live crime free, healthy lives in long-term recovery. Convicting an addict for the crimes they commit does not solve the under lying issue-addiction. Drug Court looks to end the criminal conduct through recovery and collaborates with prevention, treatment, and recovery providers.

Celebrations during September will include many events and acknowledgements of those working in recovery directly, but you as a citizen should be acknowledged as well for encouraging and embracing individuals fighting for recovery. Each of us can celebrate the accomplishment of individuals we know in recovery and encourage healthy chemical free living. National Recovery Month includes all aspects of behavioral health much like drug court. Chemical dependency does not happen in a vacuum but is a result of many forces impacting a person’s life such as mental health, family and relationship issues, employment/economic issues, education, or general environment of chemical use. Recovery takes many disciplines working together to place an individual on and keep moving down the road of recovery. Drug courts recognize this holistic approach as the best way of assuring recovery and a healthy life.

Thousands of prevention, treatment, and recovery services around the country celebrate their successes and share them with their neighbors, friends, and colleagues in an effort to educate the public about recovery. Here in Rice County we have the Rice County Chemical Health Coalition whose members include local chemical health, health care, and mental health providers. Many individuals in Rice County have had their live transformed through recovery thanks to the efforts of these organizations and others. Though you may not know it, our community is made stronger and safer by the efforts of all the members of the Rice County Chemical Health Coalition. I invite you to visit ricecountychc.com to see the many accomplishments of the coalition. These successes often go unnoticed by the broader population and Recovery Month provides a vehicle to celebrate these accomplishments and to say thank you.

Recovery Month emphasizes the many ways that people can prevent behavioral health issues, seek treatment, and sustain recovery as part of a commitment to living a mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually healthy life. One way we can all help is to take care of our own health and those around us each day. If you or a friend are having chemical use issues that are interfering with your ability to live a healthy life, get help early and support anyone you know seeking help or in recovery. The web site above also has contact information for services. The road of recovery can be a long and bumpy ride for those recovering and those who care about them, but with all of us working together to support recovery and chemical free living, the road is smoother and will lead to a stronger and safer Rice County for us all.