NRT Celebrates the 2025 Recovery Month Theme

The 2025 Recovery Month theme is “Recovery isREAL (Restoring Every Aspect of Life).”

Recovery Month is a federal government initiative launched in 1989 and currently organized by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA).Recovery Month, observed in September, recognizes the recovery community, reduces stigma, promotes recovery, and supports treatment providers.

This year’s theme is “Restoring Every Aspect of Life,” which, according to SAMHSA, refers to health, home, community, and purpose. These themes closely align with the so-called Social Determinants of Health, which are critical factors contributing to addiction and recovery.

Researchers, recovery advocates, and treatment providers have long acknowledged the strong connection between the so-calledSocial Determinants of Health (SDOH) and the development and perpetuation of substance use and mental health disorders. The connection between social determinants and addictive disorders was initially recognized in the 1960s. The linkage was eventually solidified and codified when it was written into the2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, the SocialDeterminants of Health include economic stability, education access and quality, healthcare access and quality, neighborhood and built environment, and social community context.

Essentially, the social determinants are the factors that significantly influence health and well-being. Access to financial security, education, a safe place to live, quality healthcare, and being connected to others contribute to better health and wellness. When any of these pillars are lacking, however, people can experience severe stress, illness, mental health disorders, and trauma, all of which increase the potential for substance use disorders and addiction.

The social determinants are also closely related to recovery capital, another important measure. Recovery capital is a measure of the intrinsic and external resources that help people sustain recovery from substance use disorders, mental health conditions, and other health problems. Taken together, the social determinants of health are contributing factors that may put people at risk of developing behavioral health disorders, and recovery capital is a factor that helps people maintain health and wellness after recovering from these conditions.

“RestoringEvery Aspect of Life” Resonates at NRT Behavioral Health Treatment Programs

NRTBehavioral Health addiction treatment programs, including Foundry Steamboat, Foundry Front Range, and Foundry Outpatient, pay careful attention to each patient’s social determinants and recovery capital.Effective addiction treatment programs focus on more than addressing the side effects of addictive disorders and teaching skills to reduce reliance on substance use. It also helps people improve their lifestyles and support systems so that they can stay in recovery after completing treatment.

In keeping with the Recovery Month theme,“Restoring Every Aspect of Life,” NRT programs acknowledge that many of their clients struggle with financial stress or joblessness, insecure housing, problematic home lives, social networks that normalize substance misuse, and more. Significant numbers of NRT Behavioral Health program clients face social determinants of health deficits that are shared by many Coloradans, especially those in rural communities. Our programs attempt to help clients access available resources and make connections to increase recovery capital after completing programming. NRT programs also use a specialized Recovery CapitalIndex measure to determine the overall recovery resources of its client base to improve care, identify appropriate resources and partners, and give clients more ways to sustain recovery.

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