Interactive Web-Based Activities and Information
In 2006, SAMHSA hosted an updated Recovery Month interactive Web site, www.recoverymonth.gov, making information on Recovery Month accessible to local communities and the general public either online or through downloadable files. Visitors had access to numerous helpful activities.
The 2006 Web site included materials that could be ordered online, such as the virtual Recovery Month toolkit and an electronic flyer made available for organizations hosting events. Also posted were SAMHSA press releases, additional resources and publications, proclamations, and the English and Spanish versions of all television and radio Recovery Month PSAs produced from 2002 to 2006.
Visitors could post their Recovery Month events by locality using an interactive events counter. In 2006, 665 events were posted, reflecting an increase of 30.9 percent. Many of the events were highlighted with event photos.
The 2006 Recovery Month Web site won several awards for its quality and content, such as the Bronze Omni Intermedia Award, the Aesculapius Award of Excellence, the Silver Inkwell Award, the APEX Award of Excellence, and the 2006 Communicator Award of Distinction.
Visitors could post their Recovery Month events by locality using an interactive events counter. In 2005, 508 events were posted. Many of the events were highlighted with event photos.
The Bronze Omni Intermedia Award recognizes outstanding media productions that engage, empower and enlighten their audiences. The Omni is awarded to Web sites that exemplify the highest standards of quality.
The Aesculapius Award of Excellence is given out to exceptional Web sites for communicating health information to the public.
The 2006 Recovery Month Web site also won the Silver Inkwell Award of Merit. The Silver Inkwell Award of Merit recognizes outstanding achievements in 85 categories, including print, electronic, visual, interactive and video communications, graphics design, writing, new technologies, radio, television and communications planning, and campaigns, to name a few. The 2006 Recovery Month Web site received a 2006 Silver Inkwell Award of Merit in the category of government and military communications.
The APEX Award of Excellence is an annual competition for writers, editors, publications staff and business or nonprofit communicators. The focus of the award is excellence in graphic design, editorial content and the success of the entry in achieving overall communications effectiveness and excellence. The Recovery Month Web site received this distinction for the quality of its design and content.
The Recovery Month Web site has also won the 2006 Communicators Award of Distinction, which is an international competition that recognizes outstanding work in the communications field. Entries are judged by industry professionals who look for talent that exceeds a high standard of excellence and provides a benchmark for the industry. This award is only given to projects that exceed industry standards.
The 2005 Recovery Month Web site has also been awarded the 2006 NAGC Gold Screen Award of Excellence. This award underscores the high standards of professionalism in public service, with a focus on government agencies or individuals who have significant achievements in their field.
Webcasts
SAMHSA developed the Road to Recovery Webcasts series in a talk and magazine show format, with a host and four guests. Eight out of the nine were aired on the first Wednesday of the month, beginning in January and running through September. The 9 monthly Webcasts logged 7,905 views and 3,114 trailer views. (These figures indicate the number of times a viewer accessed the Web page, but do not necessarily reflect the number of times the supporting graphics/files were viewed.) In addition, more than 318 distinct public education government cable channels in 295 cable systems throughout the country aired the Road to Recovery series, reaching more than 15.5 million cable households, representing an estimated earned media value of $4 million.
Since 2004, there has been a 250% growth in channels. Additionally in 2004, the Road to Recovery series was being cablecast in 33 states, and in 2006 it was cablecast in all 50 states.
Archive copies of the Webcasts were made available on the Web immediately following the aired program and VHS video cassette tapes or DVDs could be ordered via the Recovery Month Web site.
- Recovery and the Military: Treating Veterans and Their Families (2/1/06)
- Addiction and the Family: Healing and Recovery (3/1/06)
- Youth and College Drinking: Breaking the Patterns (4/5/06)
- Helping the Labor Movement Embrace the Recovery Movement (5/3/06)
- Faith and Recovery: the Healing Role of Faith-Based Organizations (6/7/06)
- Addiction and the Justice System: Decipher the Maze (7/5/06)
- The Addiction Treatment Workforce: Where We Are, Why We're Here, and Where We Need to Be (8/2/06)
- At The Crossroads: Examining the Intersection of Care for Persons with Mental and Substance Use Conditions (9/6/06)
For the first time, in 2006 the Web site also included Recovery Month Video Podcasting. Video podcasting is an alternative format for previewing trailers of the monthly Webcasts. The trailers were available as video podcasts and usually last for about 60 seconds. Viewing these trailers provided viewers with a brief overview of the upcoming Webcast of the month. The viewers signed up as subscribers in order to gain access to these video podcasts, which were either downloaded automatically to the viewers podcasting software, or available for them to download on demand. There were 3,114 trailer views between January and December 2006.
The Web site enabled visitors to distribute news about Recovery Month. A special feature on the site was the Road to Recovery listserv, where people could sign up to receive periodic e-mail updates on activities and resources featuring Recovery Month.
Additional features on the Web site for 2006 include: a video podcasting system, a credit card process to order videos/DVDs of Webcasts; an additional resource area specific to each Webcast topic; welcome video clips from SAMHSA Administrator Charles G. Curie and CSAT Director Dr. H. Westley Clark; an HTML version of the Road to Recovery listserv message; and promotional PowerPoint presentations provided in four different viewing options to help promote Recovery Month and educate people that recovery is possible.
The entire Recovery Month site experienced tremendous growth over the past two years, especially during the month of September. In September 2006, there were 140,818 unique visitors to the site. In 2006, there were a total of 981,717 unique visitors to the site throughout the year, compared to 605,956 total unique visitors in 2005, a 62 percent increase.
In September 2006 there were 250,199 visits to the site, and in 2006 there was a total of 1, 846,868 visits to the entire Recovery Month Web site.
From January through December 2006, the official Recovery Month Web site received more than 15.8 million hits (15,827,985 an indicator of Web server traffic) and the site logged in 981,717 "unique visitors" (an indicator of new visitors). Total unique visitors in 2006 increased 62 percent compared to 2005.
This significant growth indicates a consistent, loyal, and continuously growing audience.
Recovery Month Web Site Hits Compared to Previous Years
| Month |
2006 Hits |
2005 Hits |
2004 Hits |
2003 Hits |
2002 Hits |
2001 Hits |
| Prior to June |
5,093,854 |
4,461,986 |
2,415,654 |
2,533,370 |
633,187 |
114,413 |
| June |
1,245,649 |
939,386 |
533,355 |
683,796 |
228,496 |
127,852 |
| July |
1,422,865 |
1,018,337 |
693,215 |
767,676 |
284,609 |
629,657 |
| August |
2,696,227 |
1,734,017 |
1,169,034 |
1,231,059 |
375,530 |
212,043 |
| September |
2,064,226 |
2,076,098 |
1,140,801 |
1,157,533 |
452,433 |
176,016 |
| October |
1,397,778 |
1,136,990 |
764,454 |
614,676 |
243,100 |
85,975 |
| November |
1,022,629 |
752,606 |
878,528 |
474,020 |
240,932 |
57,167 |
| December |
885,081 |
552,988 |
715,477 |
337,088 |
150,957 |
55,373 |
| Total |
15,827,985 |
12,672,408 |
8,310,518 |
7,799,218 |
2,609,244 |
1,458,496 |
"Ask the Expert"
During the weeks following a Webcast's debut via the Recovery Month Web site, viewers had an opportunity to send in topic related questions to get expert advice from SAMHSA-approved experts. SAMHSA developed eight "Ask the Expert" forums that ran from February through September. The "Ask the Expert" feature delivered an average of four for questions each forum.
