National Recovery Month – September 2025

History of National Recovery Month

First known aid for the recovery of addicts was the “Alcoholic Mutual Aid” society, in which sobriety circles provided early recovery from the 1750s to the early 1800s. Initially, these groups comprised Native American tribes, and these tribes used native healing practices to treat alcoholism. In 1784, “Benjamin Rush,” a physician, argued that alcoholism is a disease that must be treated. He was committed to educating the public about the hazards of alcohol, and his written works helped launch the temperance movement. By the 1850s, lodging homes and homes for the fallen had emerged to provide non-medical detoxification, seclusion from drinking cultures, and the formation of sober fellowships for addicts. In the 1850s, one of the earliest inebriate houses opened in Boston, designed after state-run lunatic asylums.

Wilson and Dr. Bob, former alcoholics in the 1930s who could not sustain abstinence, formed the Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) in 1935. In 1939, the renowned blue book “Alcoholics Anonymous” was released. In 1950, A.A. membership surpassed 90,000, and the organization’s reach had expanded tremendously. The American Public Health Association awarded A.A. the Lasker Award in 1951. Halfway House Association was created in 1958 to provide safe, recovery-oriented accommodation for those addicted to drugs or alcohol. In 2002, the F.D.A. approved buprenorphine, a medication-assisted treatment, for clinical use for opioid addiction. The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 mandated that insurance companies and group health plans provide mental health and substance use treatment and services with the same benefits as other medical care.