2001 National Alcohol & Drug Addiction Recovery Month Kit

ational Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month will be observed during September 2001. The month is set aside to highlight the societal benefits, importance, and effectiveness of drug and alcohol treatment as a public health service in your community. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, in conjunction with its national planning partner organizations and treatment providers, has organized this year’s campaign materials as a toolkit that allows you to easily tailor a community outreach program that matches your time and resources, while still helping to educate key constituent groups about the need to involve them in improving treatment in your community. The kit offers ideas and suggestions for planning and implementing a manageable campaign that conveys this year’s observance theme, We Recover Together: Family, Friends, and Community, which emphasizes the importance of family and community in the recovery process.

Implementing an effective Recovery Month campaign in your community takes only five simple steps.

1. Read through the kit and familiarize yourself with its contents.

2.Select the two or three most relevant constituent groups in your community that can benefit from more in-depth attention and education about recovery.

3.Select no more than three activities that will accomplish your objectives with the audiences you select.

4.Plan and execute the three activities you selected.

5.Evaluate the success of your campaign and lessons learned with your planning team, your community, and the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment as a way to share and improve upon your efforts next year.

Although you are strongly encouraged to do as much as possible to highlight the effectiveness and importance of substance abuse treatment, a significant impact can be made by carrying out a few activities that target your key constituency groups. Whether this is your first Recovery Month campaign or you are building on past efforts, you will find materials tailored to key constituent groups that make them aware of the need to support treatment and recovery. Other materials are designed as templates that can be customized with personal examples and issues from your community. Finally, the kit offers suggestions tailored to help engage them in the treatment and recovery process.

We hope you will use this toolkit to begin educating your community during Recovery Month 2001 and throughout the coming year about the extraordinary work you and other treatment providers do every day. Deliver the message that recovery from drug and alcohol addiction through help from accredited professionals and programs, family support, and peer help services can be a reality for people living in your community. In other words, We Recover Together: Family, Friends, and Community.

Select two or three media communiques from the samples provided to broaden awareness that substance use treatment is working in your community.

Promotional Event Ideas — Suggestions to get you started to publicize and commemorate this month.

Sample Proclamations — Two different versions that allow you to tailor a proclamation that can be issued by mayors, governors, or other leaders to promote and encourage support of Recovery Month in your community.

Sample Press Release — A guide for writing your own releases about special activities your organization is planning to promote this month.

Sample Media Advisory — A one-page media alert about an event you want local press to cover. This sample illustrates the format, basic information to include, and suggestions for distribution.

Sample Op-Ed Article — An opportunity to express a strong opinion on a particular issue. Tailor this sample as appropriate, or use it as a guide for your own article.

Radio PSA Scripts — Announcer-read public service announcement scripts promoting Recovery Month that can result in free air time.

Logo Sheet — Camera-ready artwork of the official logo for National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month is provided for customization of your materials.

Letterhead — Make as many copies as you need of the camera-ready artwork to use for your Recovery Month-related correspondence.

Select key constituent groups to help you advance efforts to improve and deliver substance use treatment services in your community. Use the fact sheet designed for that audience — or a combination of fact sheets — to create an information packet you can disseminate. At the end of each fact sheet are suggested action steps to help your audience start or expand their involvement. Also included are statistics, examples of success stories, and resources to help you promote National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month.

Planning Partners — A comprehensive list of groups that are participating in planning this year’s National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month observance.

Allied Organizations — A comprehensive list of groups affiliated with this year’s National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month observance.

Clearinghouses, Web Sites, and Additional Resources — A list of relevant substance abuse treatment-related clearinghouses and resource centers; Internet addresses of online web sites; and the addresses, telephone numbers, and web sites of pertinent national organizations.

State Substance Abuse Directors — State drug and alcohol abuse office contacts for local information and support.

Diversity Resources — A list of national organizations that focus on diverse populations and multicultural efforts.

Evaluation Form — Please share your reactions to this year’s kit and the initiatives you implemented in your community. Complete this form and return it to the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. Your input is essential to helping us improve federal education initiatives for substance abuse treatment.