September is National Recovery Month
September 4, 2026 - For someone struggling with alcohol or drug misuse, recovery can seem a long way off. Relationships may be damaged, jobs lost, and families exhausted from years of dealing with the effects of substance dependency. By the time a person reaches out for help, there may be a lot to rebuild.
But people do rebuild.
It is a good time to talk about something we do not hear enough about when discussing substance dependency: people get better.
Recovery takes work. Treatment and support can be part of that process, along with changes in other areas of a person's life. Substance dependency can affect health, employment, finances, and relationships with the people closest to us. Those problems do not disappear the day someone enters treatment.
A person who has been in recovery for 10 years was once trying to make it through the first day. Someone celebrating a year once had to get through the first week. Families who have rebuilt relationships may remember when they weren't sure those relationships could be repaired.
Those successes are important, particularly for someone who may believe it is too late to change.
Here in East Texas, recovery is not an abstract idea. We see people working on it every day.
People are receiving treatment, attending recovery groups, working with peer support specialists, and rebuilding relationships with their families. Many are returning to work and becoming active again in their communities. Recovery will not follow the same course for everyone, and setbacks can be part of the process.
What is important is that recovery is possible.
That message can get lost among the stories we hear about arrests, overdoses, deaths, and other consequences of substance misuse. Those are serious issues and should not be ignored. Neither should the people who have changed their lives.
Celebrating recovery does not minimize the challenges of substance dependency. It shows what can happen when people have access to treatment and support and decide to make a change.
For the person who is still struggling, that may be the most important message of Recovery Month.
The Alcohol and Drug Awareness Council provides prevention, intervention, counseling, and recovery support services for individuals and families affected by alcohol or drug misuse. For information about services, call 1-800-445-8562 or visit www.adacdet.org.
