September is Recovery Month in Canada. The United States also marks this month as their National Recovery Month sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Recovery Month is about raising awareness of substance use disorders. It’s about ending the stigma of addiction and offering solutions for the devastation it brings. It’s about helping people find the help they need. We celebrate those who are in recovery. It takes courage and determination to address addiction issues.

Substance use treatment helps people recover from substance misuse and addiction disorders so that they can live healthy and fulfilling lives.

10 Reasons to Focus on Your Recovery

1. The broken promises you’ve made. To yourself. To your loved ones. The promises to stop or cut down. The promises to get help. September is the month to start keeping those promises.

2. The excuses you’ve given for being broke, under-functioning, or unavailable. The excuses get pretty thin after a while. How many times can you be robbed, lose your phone, have the flu, or need to take your dog to the vet?

3. How much money you’ve wasted on your addiction. Substance misuse and addiction disorders are expensive. Wouldn’t it be great to stop throwing money away on something that’s destroying your health and happiness?

4. The lies you tell yourself about not having a problem. “I only drink on weekends.” “I can quit anytime.” “I’m not as bad as people who need to get help.” “I don’t need help.” You can make September the month you start being honest with yourself.

5. The secrets you keep because of your addiction. Everyone who struggles with substance misuse and addiction has secrets: how much money it costs, the real reason for being sick, who you’ve had sex with when your drunk or high, or why you got fired from your job.

6. How tired you are of keeping those secrets. Addiction can be a pretty lonely experience when you need to hide it or the negative consequences that keep happening. The secrets of addiction take a lot of energy to hide.

7. The negative impacts addiction has on all aspects of your life. Relationships, finances, career, health, hopes, sense of self, emotional stability. Substance misuse and addiction take a huge toll in many crucial areas. Wouldn’t it be nice to get your life back?

8. How much self-loathing you feel for yourself and your behaviour. Overwhelming shame about unhealthy addiction patterns often keeps using behaviours in high gear. The only way to break that cycle is to stop using and get support for yourself in the process.

9. All the things you will lose if you don’t stop. You can keep telling yourself it doesn’t matter if you lose a relationship, a job, your home, your health and sanity, or your very life. But these things do matter. Pursuing recovery will help you hang on to what’s important.

10. You’ll be joining many other people in making recovery a priority. Addiction is real. But so is recovery. September marks an opportunity to get informed, to find tools for recovery, and to find support from others on this journey. September is the month to “see your self in recovery.”

Make September your month to start or celebrate your journey of recovery!