September is National Recovery Month. This week’s post focuses on substance use disorders and other addictions and how they impact millions of people.  Learning that recovery is possible is everyone’s responsibility. 

Our federal government supports this effort through SAMSHA, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Begun in 1989, this annual declaration aims “ to promote and support new evidence-based treatment and recovery practices, the nation’s strong and proud recovery community, and the dedication of service providers and communities who make recovery possible.” 

The 2025 theme for Recovery Month builds on the 2024 theme – Recovery for All. SAMSHA provides an easy-to-use toolkit with great resources for those interested in being a part of Recovery Month. It  introduces the Tool Kit by offering this very hopeful statement: “With the right treatment, support, and resources, recovery is REAL (Restoring Every Aspect of Life) for everyone.”

Two weeks ago, Geraldine and I spent some time in New York City. We stopped by St. Patrick’s Cathedral in midtown Manhattan. We were stunned and deeply moved to find, in this iconic national cathedral, a large exhibit depicting the power of drug addiction to kill individuals and have devastating impacts on the lives of their families. 

In every pew (except the first 15 or so reserved for services), there were posters with photos of people who had died from drug overdoses. Organized by The Black Poster Project,  each poster had the story of the person pictured and their unique gifts. Beside their photos was a panel displaying their family members – parents, grandparents, children, cousins. 

The picture above is of the Cathedral on August 21, 2025. If you are standing in front of the church at the altar, you see nearly a thousand photos looking at you, and telling you the horrendous story of how addictions kill people and destroy families. 

This exhibit is part of an ongoing effort.  In 2015, Dee Gillen, the founder of the project, lost her son to a drug overdose. As part of living through and with her grief, she began talking with other families who had lost someone to drugs. In 2019, she gave a talk in New Jersey (where she lives) near the Hudson River. By that time, she had talked with 48 other families who agreed to share their loved one’s photo and life story.  

Dee decided to place the 48 black posters against a wall at a scenic part of the Hudson for everyone passing by to see.  This project humanized and made real that death by drug overdose can happen to any family.  Her awareness campaign also conveyed that death by drug overdose can be prevented. 

Since that time, Dee and other bereft volunteers have organized photo exhibits and awareness events in schools, churches, and government centers both locally and nationally. In 2024, St Patrick’s Cathedral hosted The Black Poster Project with 770 Posters; the victims’ ages ranged from the unborn to 79 years old. 

One of the goals of Recovery Month is to reduce the stigma of addiction and to raise awareness of its universal impact.  Recovery is necessary and available to all. For me, this exhibit made it crystal clear that addictions touch every community and aren’t limited to people we think are different from us. Drug overdose, alcohol, and other substance use disorders impact some of us directly and all of us indirectly. 

I invite you to spend some time on the Black Poster Project website and take in the breadth and depth of the pain. And then think about people you know who are dying more slowly from their use of drugs, alcohol, overeating, gambling, or other addictions. Think about their affected families .. 

Consider learning more about recovery and addictions by going to open meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and the programs for families – Al-Anon and NarAnon. The only way to slow down and eventually stop the generational transfer of addiction trauma is by embracing recovery for all. There are many ways to learn that both addiction and Recovery are REAL.