SAMHSA toolkit: SUD Treatment Month

Washington State Health Care Authority sent this bulletin at 01/16/2025 03:45 PM PST

January 16, 2025

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SAMHSA: January is Substance Use Disorder Treatment Month

Substance Use Disorder Treatment Month (Treatment Month), launched in January 2025, serves to support:

People contemplating or seeking help for their substance use
Practitioners treating or considering treating substance use disorder
Friends, family, and loved ones of those with substance use conditions

By raising awareness of treatment, including medications to treat substance use disorders, SAMHSA seeks to:

Eliminate stigma surrounding treatment, including medications used to treat substance use disorders
Encourage those on their treatment and recovery journey
Promote best practices such as screening, intervention, and treatment of substance use disorders by health care providers

During the second week of Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Treatment Month, SAMHSA will raise awareness of stigma as a barrier to the identification and treatment of SUDs.

Stigma against people with an SUD is rooted in misinformation and unfair beliefs about people and their behaviors, circumstances, and the origins of SUD. This renders people with a SUD to be viewed as morally weak or lacking willpower instead of the reality that they have a chronic health condition on par with diabetes or hypertension.

Stigma related to SUD treatment sometimes prevents people from seeking the help they need. Additionally, stigma also can affect health care practitioners in position to deliver those treatments – making them reluctant to help people with SUD and even causing them to also harshly judge medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat SUDs.

During this week of Treatment Month, SAMHSA will share information to help people take a nonjudgmental view of people with SUDs and of the medications proven effective and safe in treating these health conditions.

As a community, we need to eliminate the stigma associated with SUDs and their treatments: Friends, family, loved ones, practitioners, and others – we all can be the best advocates and supporters of people contemplating or seeking help for their substance use conditions.

Visit the 2025 Treatment Month toolkit to find English- and Spanish-language social media content and Treatment Month webinars and events.

Learn more and access SAMHSA toolkits

About SAMHSA

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is the agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that leads public health efforts to advance the behavioral health of the nation. SAMHSA envisions that people with, affected by, or at risk for mental health and substance use conditions receive care, achieve well-being, and thrive.

Learn more about SAMHSA

About the Health Care Authority (HCA)

Functioning as both the state's largest health care purchaser and its behavioral health authority, the Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA) is a leader in ensuring Washington residents have the opportunity to be as healthy as possible.

There are three pillars of our work: Apple Health (Medicaid); the Public Employees Benefits Board (PEBB) and School Employees Benefits Board (SEBB) programs; and behavioral health and recovery. Under these pillars, HCA purchases health care, including behavioral health treatment for more than 2.7 million Washington residents and provides behavioral health prevention, crisis, and recovery supports to all Washington residents.

Please do not reply directly to this message. For more information, visit the HCA website, where you'll also find contact information.

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