How do you celebrate National Recovery Month every September? The government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) leads the way to recognizing the hard work that goes into recovery for each person in rehab, each professional treatment counselor, and each affected family member. Whether you’re striving for sobriety in smaller communities such as Benicia or larger cities including Fairfield and Vallejo, whether you’re working on heroin recovery in Fresno or Sacramento, you’ll find much that will interest you at SAMHSA’s website for RecoveryMonth.org.
Many of the National Recovery Month events will be over by the time you read this, but celebrating your recovery from heroin in Fresno or wherever you live is something you can do all year long. Here are just a few things you can learn about while you’re on SAMHSA’s website:
The Last Few Events in September
If you’re working on recovery in Vallejo, you can attend the 14th Annual Recovery Rally set for September 19. From 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., prepare to enjoy real people and real recovery amidst great music and some bodacious barbecue that’s absolutely free.
People working on drug addiction or heroin recovery in Fresno are just 13 minutes away from Clovis, where a local recovery center is inviting everyone—not just its clients—to participate in its First Walk for Recovery on September 19. The purpose is to increase people’s awareness of the issues involving drug addiction and also to stand in solidarity with fellow addicts and their families. The location is the trail at Dry Creek Park, the time is 8:30 a.m., and the walk will be followed by plenty of activities for adults and their kids, including food. All people are invited to attend but you are requested to register for this event.
Also on September 19, just a couple hours south of Fresno you can visit Martinez between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. for Support 4 Recovery’s 2015 Recovery Celebration and Walk. It’s worth your while, if you’re working on heroin recovery in Fresno, to take the drive down to Martinez, where you will find a picnic—a cook-off!—plus a walk that you can choose to participate in recreationally or competitively. It’s billed as a real family day with a carnival-like atmosphere. Fresno will also host their annual SoberStock Recovery event on the evening of September 25th and Saturday the September 26th at The Manchester Center. For more information email bbradley@co.fresno.com.
The big remaining event for Recovery Month requires a day trip for people working on heroin recovery in Fresno—but you may find it worth your while. Way down in Del Mar, you can participate in the Third Annual Josh Montoya Beach Memorial. This event commemorates the third anniversary of the death of Timothy Joshua Montoya, who lost his battle with pain pills at the age of 29 on February 15, 2013, in San Diego. His obituary tells us he loved God, his dog, and most certainly his beloved 4-year-old child, Brooke; but it cannot convey the depth of grief felt by his mother, Stacie Irvine Mathewson, who formed the Stacie Mathewson Foundation in 2011 while Josh was still battling addiction. This event will bring families together to commemorate the ones they’ve lost. If you’re the family member of someone in heroin recovery in Fresno, you may want to make it a day for this event, where Earth Artist Andres Amador will create an original design in the sands on the shore of the Pacific Ocean.
Throughout the end of the month, Teen Challenge will be hosting a variety of events less than two hours away from Fresno in Bakersfield. Teen Challenge is a worthwhile organization that has helped many Americans—this organization helps not just teens but adults—and has earned a reputation as a fine resource for recovery. People in Medication-assisted treatment programs, however, may hesitate to attend because Teen Challenge stands out as a secular organization that advocates for abstinence-based treatment. Nevertheless, these events—many of them on the site of the Kern County fair—may simply offer the opportunity for people in heroin recovery in Fresno to socialize with people in heroin recovery from other locations. Whether or not you communicate that you’ve chosen a methadone program in Fresno for your recovery is up to you; remember that medication decisions are a personal matter between you and the doctor and there is no stigma to choosing medication-assisted therapy.
Heroin Recovery in Fresno With Online Learning
Maybe you’ve missed National Recovery Month altogether, but SAMHSA’s website offers additional online resources, accessible by people working on heroin recovery in Fresno or any part of the country. You can visit the calendar for events. Leave the state you’re searching set at any. The type of event you’re searching should be set at any. However, you’ll see a search box that says Online—where you will choose yes from the dropdown window. You’ll find multiple television and Internet options for people in recovery as well as their families.
You may be interested in the award-winning documentary by Sheila Ganz, On Life’s Terms: Mothers in Recovery. It tells the stories of five women in recovery—not in heroin recovery in Fresno but women from all walks of life with addictions to various substances—whose stories will make you laugh and cry.
Maybe you’d like to visit Dr. Z’s pharmacy, which offers a daily live stream. Dr. Z interfaces with participants weekdays between the hours of 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. He firmly believes in medication-assisted treatment, and whether you’re struggling for heroin recovery in Fresno or wherever, you’ll be interested to hear what he has to say about prescription drug options for treating substance abuse.
On the Recovery Month website we also learned more about the Entertainment Industry Council’s efforts to recognize the ways that people battle addition. EIC is probably best known for producing the PRISM awards, which is like the Academy Awards given to recognize industry professionals who work on depicting mental health and substance use disorders. EIC’s newest release Entertainment Depiction Suggestions for Portraying Behavioral Health Conditions: Mental Health & Substance Use Disorders will interest you whether you are in treatment for heroin recovery in Fresno or if you are the family member of a loved one in treatment. It’s directed at people who portray addicts and the mistakes or presumptions they typically make. If you think about Denzel Washington’s alcoholic in Flight or Meryl Streep’s pain-pill-popping mama in August: Osage County¸ you’ll realize the importance of EIC’s work.
View or Read the Stories of Others
All year long, you can visit the website to read or watch stories about people who have achieved recovery. You’ll find some who are recovering alcoholics, or who used drugs like methamphetamines, heroin, or pain pills, like you.
If you’re doing well at your heroin recovery in Fresno, you may want to add your own story. Many people like to keep their stories of recovery private, especially if they’ve opted for medication-assisted therapy to treat heroin recovery. In Fresno, however, you can find a whole cadre of methadone treatment professionals who believe that there is no stigma to medication-assisted treatment. The goal is to help you celebrate your story with joy and pride, all year long. It’s nice to have a designated National Recovery Month, but the truth is that recovery goes on forever. Let it be that way for you.
