September is National Recovery Month, and Right Track Medical Group is working to raise awareness surrounding mental health and addiction recovery.
Dr. Katherine Pannel, who serves as medical director for Right Track Medical Group, recently made an appearance on MidDays with Gerard Gibert to talk about the national observance held annually since 1989.
“This month is a month to celebrate. It’s to celebrate the 20 million that are in recovery. It’s to support those that are trying to get into recovery, and it’s just a month to really advocate for funding and awareness for evidence-based treatment to get those that are struggling into recovery,” Pannel said.
Pannel, whose father-in-law passed away due to addiction, also used the airtime to tell families of those who struggle with addiction not to be discouraged if the individual doesn’t succeed in recovery right away.
“It’s important to emphasize that recovery is a process. It takes over 50 percent at least two tries to get sober and be in recovery with actually the average being five tries. Failure is inevitable for all of us in life, and it should be treated the same way in addiction recovery that if you fail and you relapse, it is not a total failure. That is the normal path and just keep [fighting].”
To learn more about National Recovery Month, the full interview with Pannel can be watched below.
