INTRODUCTION - Cover Letter

MEDIA OUTREACH – In this section, you will find event ideas and sample materials to help you generate local media interest in your National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month (Recovery Month) activities. The first two items are for your reference:

• Promotional Event Ideas -- will help you plan your events
• Speaking Effectively with the Media About Recovery Month -- will help you prepare for media interviews about your events

The remaining items are media outreach materials. Each item begins with instructions for its use, followed by a sample draft to show the appropriate format. You may write your materials using the samples as a guide, or download the PDF files from this site and adapt them, adding information specific to your community and your organization. You can print them on your organization's letter-head or copy them onto the camera-ready letterhead provided. You also can customize your materials using the camera-ready logo sheet provided.

• Media Advisory -- A media advisory that encourages local press to attend an event
• Press Release -- A press release that provides more detail about your organization's event(s)
• Opinion Piece -- An opinion piece that you can customize for submission to the op-ed pages of local newspaper(s), making sure that you submit different versions to different newspapers
• Official Proclamations -- Official proclamations for mayors, governors, or other leaders to issue, at your request
• Radio Public Service Announcement Scripts -- Radio public service announcement scripts that can be read by radio announcers using free air time
• Camera-ready Letterhead
• Camera-ready Logo Sheet

TARGETED OUTREACH – This section contains background information about alcohol and drug use disorders. Each fact sheet has been graphically designed and is camera-ready, so you may distribute these materials "as is" to the audiences you are targeting with your National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month (Recovery Month) activities. Some of these materials also may be appropriate for the media as part of your press kit.

Two types of fact sheets are provided: those that discuss general information and those that are designed for specific audiences. The audience-specific fact sheets contain suggested action steps your target audiences can take to help support Recovery Month, as well as to promote recovery throughout the year.

You are welcome to use just the fact sheet designed for a particular audience or to use a combination of fact sheets, adding selected materials from the "Resources" section of this planning toolkit to create an information packet to distribute. A listing of fact sheets follows.

Background information:

• Overview: Access to Recovery -- Discusses the barriers to treatment
• Alcohol and Drug Use Disorders in Our Society -- Outlines the prevalence of alcohol and drug use disorders
• The National Investment in Treating Alcohol and Drug Use Disorders -- Describes national and personal spending on treatment programs
• Commonly Misused Substances -- Highlights the major substances misused in the United States
• Join the Voices for Recovery -- Personal stories in the words of those in recovery

Audience-specific information:

• Youth and Alcohol and Drug Use Disorders: How Adults Can Help -- Focuses on issues specific to youth
• Alcohol and Drug Use Disorders and the Workplace -- Covers issues that employers and employees face
• Health Care Providers: Helping Your Patients -- Discusses the role of various treatment providers
• Mobilizing the Recovery Community: Using Your Experience to Spread the Word -- Describes the effects on families and the process of treatment
• Supporting and Integrating Systems of Care: Maximizing Their Impact on Improving Access to Treatment for People with Alcohol and Drug Use Disorders -- Explains the systems in place to manage alcohol and drug use disorders in our communities (e.g., child welfare, criminal justice, etc.) and highlights action steps for those employed in these systems

RESOURCES – The resources included in this section will help you conduct outreach to the audiences you need to target as you plan and execute your National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month (Recovery Month) activities. To help you plan and evaluate your Recovery Month activities, the following resources are provided:

• Planning Partners List
• Customer Satisfaction Form
• Additional Resources
• Single-State Agency Directory