September is marked National Recovery Month. Kristin Primus is the Deputy Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol programs. Primus says this month is special to her, because she is also a woman in long term recovery.

 I've been in recovery since September 2nd, 2005. And, you know, when I first started hearing about National Recovery Month, I used to work for, an RCO, which is a recovery community organization. And, you know, I always thought it was very fitting that it was like, the same month as my, recovery date, but, you know, it's just a month that me and all the individuals that I'm in recovery with get to celebrate the fact that, you know, we've accomplished, being in recovery, how far we've gone, "said Primus.

Kristin Varner is the Administrator of the Dauphin County Drug and Alcohol Services. Varner says the months observance acknowledges the individuals in recovery and celebrates how far they've come in the recovery process.

 "When we think about recovery, especially every from addiction, whether it's substance use or problem gambling or any of the other types of addiction, but mostly substance use disorders, we were talking about, it's recovery is a different process for everyone. It's individualized, and it's a way that individuals kind of decide, make a conscious decision to improve their health and wellness, live a self-directed life, and strive to reach their full potential. And that's the definition that the federal Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration uses and, and that we use here at the state, "said Varner.

Substance misuse is an issue in Pennsylvania.

"It doesn't discriminate, by race, by socioeconomic, by gender, by age. We see people throughout the life span in every corner with addiction issues. We see mostly that when we look at the numbers and the data that the the largest number of people that we see are treated for alcohol use disorders. However, we hear a lot, at least right now, about opioid use disorders. It's it's, a crisis in, in this state as well. And, and so and then there's everything in between. So it's, it's definitely something that impacts young people, through adults, through even older people. We've seen, through the Department of Health and some of their data, the overdoses, opioid overdoses, we've seen a rise. And then the percentage of people 65 and older with an overdose. And so we also see throughout the lifespan and trying to look at going upstream and prevention activities to, help identify risk factors as well as things that will help youth, to prosper and, and be able to avoid substance use disorder, "said Primus.

This month is also an opportunity to break stigmas associated with substance misuse while educating people about the subject.

"We have found that personal stories and stirring storytelling is really a good way to sort of normalize the conversation. So when you can relate to another person, regardless of their illness or where they've been, it's just an easier way to understand. We see that all the time. And so what we're going to what we've done with life unites us is we focused on different stories, and this is basically on social media and online, and then they record different people's stories. We've focused on family members. We focused on people in recovery. We focused on emergency service workers and, and trying to get different people's perspectives on substance use disorders, kind of do some of that myth busting for people. And, and we want to be able to show that, you know, there are people behind the numbers that we see, and and they're your neighbors. It's not of the others. It's it's people in your neighborhood. It could be people in your family, friends of your children. As I said, it's it's an equal opportunity illness. And almost everybody probably knows somebody with some addiction issues. So. So we need to stop. We need to bring it out of the darkness into the light and discuss it like we would at any other illness. And life unites us is just one way that we are working and working towards that to show that these these people, these people with addiction, these people in recovery are just very similar from to the rest of us. They just have something going on at that that they're going to work on for the rest of their life, but they can work on it and they can come out on the other side. And that's really important. The message of hope as well, "said Primus.