September is National Recovery Month

Recovery Month is a national observance across our nation to educate Americans about substance use, treatment, and mental health services that are available in every community. It is a time to celebrate the successes made by those in recovery and reinforce that positive message that prevention, intervention, and treatment help many people in communities across our nation every year.

"When you think about drug overdoses and the drug epidemic in America, most people do not think about little children. Sadly, there are many young children in our community who live in homes with parents who abuse drugs," continued Kalish. "Unfortunately, there are children who will not survive their parents' drug use and other children will be forever scarred by their experiences."

If you know a child who is living in a home where their parents are abusing drugs, the first step to get the child and their parent help is to report the abuse to the Department of Children's Services Child Abuse Reporting Hotline at 1-877-237-0004.

"The Child Advocacy Center works as a team with the Department of Children's Services to help parents stop using drugs and give the parents a healthy and rewarding life and their children a happier childhood, " said Cannon County Coordinator Cassell Galligan Davis.

"Many parents cannot afford to go to alcohol and drug treatment or they have no one to care for their children while they are in an in-patient alcohol and drug treatment program," continued Davis. "The Child Advocacy Center has an in-home counseling option in Cannon County and Rutherford County that helps parents and their children."

The Child Advocacy Center teaches families how to cope with addiction issues and helps parents stop using drugs. Services include alcohol and drug education, relapse prevention, anger management, parenting and communication skills, and stress management. The Center works with children to help them cope with their parents' addiction and break the generational cycle of drug abuse.

"The Child Advocacy Center offers drug endangered children services in English and in Spanish," said Bilingual Family Services Coordinator Uriel Arroyo. "The majority of the Hispanic and Latino families that we serve do not have a drug problem. They have alcohol problems. The Child Advocacy Center helps families with alcohol addictions, teaches them the laws in the United States, and that drinking and driving is a crime. There is often physical abuse of children and domestic violence in the family when there are alcohol problems."

For more information on the National Recovery Month visit the website at www.recoverymonth.gov. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has a Recovery Month Tool Kit that can be found in English and Spanish at https://www.recoverymonth.gov/toolkit.

For more information on services for drug endangered children and their families contact the Child Advocacy Center. In Rutherford County, contact Alissa Kalish at 615-867-9000, in Cannon County, contact Cassell Galligan Davis at 615-563-9915, and for services in Spanish contact Uriel Arroya at 615-867-9000.