September is Recovery Month

September is Recovery Month! Recovery Month was first proclaimed in 1989 as Treatment Works! This brought recognition and awareness to the work that substance use treatment professionals were doing to support those with a substance use disorder. In 1998 this was expanded to bring recognition to individuals who suffered from substance use disorder along with their efforts and struggles with recovery. In 2011, Recovery Month expanded to include those in recovery for mental health disorders. Since that time, September has been known as National Recovery Month.

This year’s theme is “Recovery is for everyone: every person, every family, every community.” This theme stresses recovery is for all and brings to light the struggles that not only the individual but also the families, communities, and treatment/prevention professionals go through to get to and to maintain recovery. This month let’s all work to promote, bring awareness to, and support those who struggle with a substance use disorder to get into recovery. Visit Your Life Iowa for recovery resources, www.yourlifeiowa.org.

How is Helping Services for Youth & Families Responding? 

The State Opioid Response Grant (SOR2) is a program that aims to address the opioid crisis by increasing access to medication-assisted treatment through the use of the three FDA-approved medications for the treatment of opioid use disorder, the reduction of unmet treatment needs, and through the reduction of opioid overdose-related deaths. SOR2 is addressing these needs through the provision of prevention, treatment, and recovery activities for opioid use disorder (including illicit use of prescription opioids, heroin, and fentanyl and fentanyl analogs). SOR2 also supports evidence-based prevention, treatment, and recovery support services to address stimulant misuse and use disorders, including for cocaine and methamphetamine.

Here at Helping Services for Youth & Families, we are focused on the prevention of the abuse of Opioids and Stimulants in our local communities. We are striving to provide education on the stigma associated with substance use disorder and its effects on recovery and access to treatment. Helping Services for Youth & Families is able to provide the following trainings to educate our communities:

• Drug Overdose Trends and Prevention of Methamphetamine and Opioids 
• Stigma Associated with Substance Use Disorders
• Primary Prevention Strategies to Address Opioid Use at the Community Level
• Psychostimulants: The Vital Information for Iowa’s Front Line.  

To schedule your training contact Jon Vagts, Prevention Coordinator at jvagts@helpingservices.org.