National Recovery Month!
Updated: Sep 5
National Recovery Month started in 1989 to support treatment and recovery practices. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) defines recovery as “a process of change through which individuals improve their health and wellness, live a self-directed life, and strive to reach their full potential.” Likewise, here at Christine Ortoll Charity, we believe recovery is individualized and process oriented towards improving your relationships, spirit, and life. Someone can be in recovery from substance use, mental health, disordered eating, or other trauma. It is important to keep the adoption of a recovery identity open to anyone who resonates with deeply improving their health and wellness. In a blog later this month, well dive into how treatment for specific substance use disorders, mental health, disordered eating, or other trauma is extremely specific, but the principals of recovery are exactly the same! community is the key ingredient to maintaining a successful recovery program.
Recovery month is a time to celebrate individuals during their long-term recoveries, and this is the foundation of our charity. We are committed to sharing transformative media or inspirational stories through mini-documentaries, full length documentaries, and social media content. Our first activity was an origin story titled, One Second at a Time, or OSAAT. This full-length documentary shares the story of Christine Ortoll’s decade long struggle with addiction and various forms of trauma from the perspective of her father, Mike. He founded our charity in her memory and found great healing through media. More about our charity and OSAAT are shared later this month, so keep an eye on our social media platforms! We’ll also be sharing more about charity, how we strive to achieve our mission, and some of our partners in each blog post over the next month.
Use the hashtags #RecoveryMonth #COC when sharing any Recovery Month–related content.
About the author
Chelsea is a person in long term natural recovery from substance misuse. She holds a PhD in Higher Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from Florida State University where she vitalized early efforts to implement a Collegiate Recovery Program. She is a recovery scientist, identity theorist, and committed to expanding the conversation of recovery as inclusive as possible. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Association of Recovery in Higher Education and Christine Ortoll Charity. Learn more about her, here.