as prevention activities, displays of the recovery quilt, and a vigil for the remembrance of loved ones who were lost to the disease of addiction. faces and voices of recovery greenville put together a rally for recovery concert. admission to the event was free and tables were set up to allow patrons to register to vote. the saint marks inspirational choir kicked off the music festivities and the evening concluded with a performance by national touring singer/songwriter livingston taylor. portland's overdose prevention project again hosted its annual recovery & wellness resource fair. the event served as a way to inform and educate participants, as well as providers, about recovery-oriented resources and health promotion-related services within the community. the beacon house association of san pedro held its 24th annual recovery block party. this event has grown to become a premier event in the recovery community. the event featured arts and crafts, live entertainment, speaker meetings, information booths, and plenty of food. waianae women in recovery held their 7th annual women and children campout. in addition to workshops dealing with women'

you've gotten recently involved with faces and voices for recovery. tell us a little bit about that organization. well faces and voices for recovery is the sort of national face and voice. that organization is a membership organization that's young but is trying to put a face and voice on recovery. and the organization's. one of the main organizing themes is diversity that all paths to recovery are welcomed and respected, and that we don't know what's going to work from one person to the next. so it's incumbent upon us to find out as much information as we can about ourselves, our own diseases and what options are available to us and to help each other through the process. more information can be learned about the different treatment modalities that are available, and recovery support services in particular. and i would urge everyone to get involved, even if from a family perspective or if you know somebody who's in addiction, who's having an active addiction treatment prevention or recovery at any of the stages. we definitely need help in perpetuating

voices of recovery certainly gets engaged in... faces and voices of recovery are fantastic people. they're part of our community and they do only good for the world. i mean, it's an incredible organization. but it really does take that, does it not? it takes people getting engaged, getting involved, calling individuals letting them know that they're not quite comfortable the way that things have been portrayed because stigma, really, it's totally perpetuated in many instances through bad portrayals. yes. i mean, one of the things we know about good compelling storylines is that it triggers the behaviors of, for example, talking with family members and friends about what they've seen, calling for further information. you know, we've done studies to look at searches on the web and the timing of those searches. what we've found is people are multitasking. if there's a great storyline on television that's engrossing them, they will actually do a web search between the 9 and 10 p.m. hour when that show is on the air. they're not waiting till the end. so they've got sort of this multimedia thing going on. so we can't underestimate the power o

for those that are in recovery. yes, it absolutely does. there was a study that was done for faces and voices of recovery of the recovery community of people who identified themselves as being in recovery that found that 24 percent of them, a full quarter, said they had been discriminated against when they sought employment and/or insurance. and of course it's pretty hard to live without a job. it's pretty hard to live without insurance that will cover your health care. so discrimination is still an ugly reality. people get discriminated against both because of their alcohol and drug history even if they have been in recovery a long time. and also many people who may have picked up a criminal record while they're addicted but have since gone on to get into treatment or otherwise it's recovery are doing fine with their lives, still have that conviction on their record or even arrest that didn't lead to a conviction that may well plague them down the road as they run into problems trying to get the basic necessities of life to be able to sustain their recovery, as dr. cline talked about before.

for substance abuse treatment. dr. jane maxwell, senior research professor, university of texas at austin, golf coast addiction technology transfer center; lisa mojer-torres, esquire, consumer advocate, faces & voices of recovery; mark parrino, founder and president, american association for the treatment of opiod dependence (aatod). dr. clark, let's talk a little bit about medication-assisted therapies and how they're used. well there are a number of medications that are used to help facilitate recovery from substance use disorders. the most popular and most prominent would be buprenorphine and methadone. but there are also medications used for the treatment of alcohol. examples of that would be naltrexone and the camprosate or disulfiram. what they're used to do is to either facilitate the recovery of persons through maintenance, as with methadone or buprenorphine, to facilitate detoxification. both methadone and buprenorphine can be used for that, as anti-craving agents, such as acamprosate and naltrexone, or to discourage use of a substance such as an aversive antabuse or disulfiram. and lisa, a lot of people might think that medication-assisted therapies is really substituting one drug for another, is tha

councils, faces and voices of recovery has a regular e-newsletter where we send out updates about what's going on when it comes to recovery-friendly legislation and building opportunities for people to get into long-term recovery. feel free to go to our web site at www.facesandvoicesofrecovery.org and you can sign up for our e-newsletter and become part of the growing recovery advocacy movement around our country. congressman davis, we've talked about the level of effort that is necessary, that we've got a lot of people who need addiction treatment. we've talked about the need to coordinate services. how does that start to happen? well, you know, i come from an area that has a tremendous amount of need, as well as many health care institutions and facilities. i actually have more hospitals and hospital beds in my congressional district than any other district in america. i also have 5 medical schools and more than 20 colleges and universities. and so obviously we spend a great deal of time looking at health issues and health needs. when it comes to addiction and mental health, and we've arrived at the point where we recognize that something is needed that we call "treatmen

faces and voices of recovery, but can families go online and find similar programs like the one you have in connecticut? it's not so easy right now. i mean, honestly, you know, recovery supports for young people is gravely understudied, underfunded, under supported across the board. so while there's a lot of hope out there and there's a lot of young people in recovery, they're not so easy to find. you know, the best supports out there are local, you know, mutual support groups that are focused to young people that are the easiest thing to access. so, you know, whether or not somebody wants to find a meeting in their local area, a lot of the 12-step groups will have, you know, a youth category, you know, that'll say that this meeting might be more focused to young people. monique, how do i get into if i'm in need of a recovery school? how do i approach the various schools? are they available to everyone all over the united states or is it only in certain pockets? unfortunately, there are recovery high schools in only eight states and collegiate recovery communities in nine states. so i think that speaks right there to how underserved adolescents and young adults are in the area of

recovery. i have done that because i have a treatment team that understands me and allows me to voice my own feelings. we make choices together about what is best for me. i do not have to worry if i am having a bad day and feeling kind of psycho, i do not have to worry about being incarcerated or committed to an institution because my treatment team knows my needs. they know that is not the best thing for me. i believe that voluntary choice is best for the person, the individual. we can spend a lot of money on laura's law or we can spend less money and have it be more productive by creating a crisis respite centers in the community. society has failed the people labeled as mentally ill. laura's lot is just another escape that. -- glarus -- laura's what is just another way to escape that. thank you. >> good morning. i am dauphine brody from the california network of mental help clients. i am here to speak on behalf of the coalition advocating for rights, empowerment, and services and on behalf of the california network of mental help clients we strongly oppose this legislation. we urge the committee to reject it. was l-- it is an iron fist in a velv

our 2009 theme is, join the voices for recovery: "together we learn. together we heal" this will be our 20th year of celebrating those who contribute to this field and those who have overcome addiction and reclaimed their lives. your continued involvement in organizing events and activities in september 2009 is critical. you can get started right now by going to recoverymonth.gov and becoming familiar with the 2009 materials. recovery month events come in all shapes and sizes. one thing they all have in common is that they all spread the message of recovery to those in need...a sense of hope that people who reach out for treatment can find recovery and a new way of life free from alcohol or drugs. by focusing on recovery we all address the need to recognize those who achieve it and also address addiction, our nation's number-one health problem. music every september national alcohol and drug addiction recovery month provides an opportunity for communities like yours to raise awareness of alcohol and drug use disorders and highlight the effectiveness of