Celebrating Recovery Awareness Month

Come join We Care Arts in celebrating National Recovery Awareness Month and promoting the importance of living a healthy life! We truly encourage each and every one of you to consider recovering and improving you health. There are so many different options that can help make strides in recovery including art therapy. Today let's learn about what National Recovery Awareness Month is, how it's related to art therapy, and hear some amazing quotes from our special members of the We Care Arts family.

National Recovery Month (Recovery Month) is a national observance held every September to educate Americans that substance use treatment and mental health services can enable those with a mental and/or substance use disorder to live a healthy and rewarding life. Recovery Month celebrates the gains made by those in recovery, just as we celebrate health improvements made by those who are managing other health conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, asthma, and heart disease. The observance reinforces the positive message that behavioral health is essential to overall health, prevention works, treatment is effective, and people can and do recover.

There are millions of Americans whose lives have been transformed through recovery. Since these successes often go unnoticed by the broader population, Recovery Month provides a vehicle for everyone to celebrate these accomplishments. Each September, tens of thousands of prevention, treatment, and recovery programs and facilities around the country celebrate National Recovery Month. They speak about the gains made by those in recovery and share their success stories with their neighbors, friends, and colleagues. In doing so, everyone helps to increase awareness and furthers a greater understanding about the diseases of mental and substance use disorders.

Addiction to drugs or alcohol has many different roots. From childhood traumas to stress, depression, and PTSD, there are quite a few reasons people turn to substances, and everyone reacts to them differently. Because there are so many delicate factors involved, there are also many treatments available, including art therapy, which can afford those in recovery a chance to find a way to relieve those feelings with something creative.

Art therapy can also help the individual come to terms with past incidents and lessen shame, which is often a side-effect to seeking help. And in most types of creative activity, there are few rules. The creation is entirely the artist’s own, from idea to execution. Below are some quotes we received from our clients, which expressed how art here at We Care Arts has helped them through their recovery. 
"We Care Arts has become an extended family for me. Instead of going to bars and other such places, this place provides a chance to socialize and accomplish something with my artwork." 
"It helps me a lot to be around people. When you get sober, it is a very lonely experience. I had to give up all my friends from the past.  Here I find that everyone is very positive and it is fun to be together and be creative." 
"The staff and clients at We Care Arts have improved my sense of self-worth by encouraging my artistic pursuits with suggestions and compliments." 
"I find it much easier to stay focused when doing my artwork here since there is a group of people sitting together and we are all making art."