Need Help With Event Planning?

Community and media events are the cornerstone of National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month (Recovery Month); holding an event can be an exciting and important way to make a difference in your community. The impact your organization can have by spreading a lasting message of recovery throughout your community can be beyond measure.

Recovery Month events, no matter how large or small, can go a long way in promoting the benefits of recovery. Visit the View Events tab above for examples of events of all sizes that resulted in the dissemination of positive and personal messages of recovery in communities across the country.

The Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery (CCAR) has put together materials that you can use to plan your event. These materials are available at http://www.facesandvoicesofrecovery.org/recovery_walks/index.php

The Johnson Institute continues to support Sports Link to join alliances with government agencies, the business community, health professionals, professional organizations, and affiliates within the field and the recovery community to spread the word about recovery and the benefits of treatment during Major League Baseball games celebrations.

The Johnson Institute provides local communities with a tool-kit to organize local events, and to provide an opportunity for the general public to recognize and support treatment and treatment professionals through activities at a Major League Baseball game.

Learn how you can plan a Recovery Month event in your community in conjunction with baseball games in the Major or Minor leagues. The Sports Link Tool Kit is available online at http://johnsoninstitute.org/resources/.

The Power of Our Stories: Speaking Out for Addiction Recovery is a new training video from the Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization Faces & Voices of Recovery.

"The Power of Our Stories is designed to empower people in recovery, their family members, friends, and allies to speak out for addiction recovery," stated Merlyn Karst, chair of Faces & Voices of Recovery and co-founder of Advocates for Recovery in Denver, CO. "We encourage individuals and organizations to use the video and the training materials to hone their skills as advocates."

Through example, the video emphasizes the importance of standing up and speaking out. It demonstrates how people are using their stories to change attitudes and policies that stigmatize and discriminate against people seeking or in recovery from addiction to alcohol or drugs.

The 44-minute video includes an instructional session with three recovery advocates - Dona Dmitrovic of the Johnson Institute; Chris Kelly of Advocates for Recovery through Medicine; and James McClain of Oxford House - who practice telling their stories with trainer Julia Ritchie.

The video also features prominent individuals from the recovery community including Ron Williams of the Recovery Association Project; the Rev. Marcus Harvey of STRENGTH, Inc., Representative Jim Ramstad (R-MN), co-founder of the Congressional Caucus on Addiction, Treatment and Recovery; and historian William White. These individuals and others share their stories and discuss the importance of putting a face and a voice on recovery.

For more information or to order the video visit the Faces and Voices for Recovery Web site.