September 2021 is National Recovery Month! National Recovery Month, celebrated annually each September, is a national observance and a national celebration to educate Americans that treatment can help those suffering from addiction find recovery and live healthy and rewarding lives.   The purpose of National Recovery Month is to celebrate recovery from addiction, to bring awareness that recovery is possible, to highlight hopeful and uplifting stories of Americans living in recovery, and to break the stigma so often still associated with addiction and mental illness. National Recovery Month celebrates the millions of Americans that have found recovery from addiction, alcoholism, substance use disorders, and co-occurring disorders, and reinforces the message that behavioral health issues like addiction and mental illness is [...]

Caroline Farrell, LSW, is the Community Outreach Specialist for Innovo Detox. A licensed social worker and a person in long-term recovery, Caroline is a 200-hour certified yoga instructor who has completed training for yoga in trauma and addiction.   Yoga is used as a healing tool to decrease anxiety, depression, fatigue, insomnia, and physical pain (amongst other ailments and mental health issues) and has been proven to help strengthen an individual’s physical and mental well-being, improve cognitive functioning, and reduce stress. Caroline has seen the benefits of practicing yoga on both a personal level and a professional level. Personally, she has utilized it to help her in her personal recovery journey. Professionally, she has witnessed yoga benefit numerous patients and [...]

Just as addiction does not discriminate and impacts all types of people, so addiction treatment must not be a one-size-fits-all model. While there is an ideal continuum of care that starts with the most intensive and supported care and ends with the least amount of treatment and support over a long period of time, to truly help and support suffering from addiction, there needs to be a personalized continuum that specifically supports that individual’s clinical needs, community and social needs, basic life needs, education and career, and overall situation. Here are the different levels of treatment and recovery support in an addiction treatment continuum of care.   DETOX Detox is often the first step for an individual in their treatment [...]

Gambling has always been an issue in the United States, both legal and illegal gambling. And as the country moves towards more avenues of legalized gambling, such as casinos being opened in more states or the rise in popularity of Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) organizations like FanDuel and DraftKings, the propensity of gambling addiction issues for many Americans is escalating.   Annually, March is dedicated to Problem Gambling Awareness Month. This initiative is meant to bring awareness and resources about gambling, problem gambling, gambling disorder, and gambling addiction throughout the country. It is a grassroots campaign spearheaded by the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG), in partnership with other healthcare organizations and providers, state health agencies, gambling companies, and gambling recovery [...]

It’s the Christmas season, and although this year may not feel as merry as those that have come before, it is still important that we all try to bring some happiness and joy this Christmas season. So, whether your Christmas gathering is smaller this year or you weren’t able to travel to see family, we should all take some solace in knowing that 2020 is soon coming to an end, there is hope on the horizon for the coronavirus pandemic, and as a nation, we can celebrate.   However, as is the case with many holiday seasons, the epidemic of addiction continues in many households throughout the country. Due to COVID-19, the substance use disorder and mental health crisis in [...]