SAMHSA Launches New Office of Recovery

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is launching an Office of Recovery within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use. The new office gives SAMHSA a dedicated team to support its efforts to grow and expand recovery support services by promoting policies, programs, and services to those in or seeking recovery.

In a news release announcing the creation of the new office, SAMHSA noted the importance of peer support services in recovery, especially in light of workforce shortages in behavioral health.

“SAMHSA’s new Office of Recovery will promote the involvement of people with lived experience throughout agency and stakeholder activities, foster relationships with internal and external organizations in the mental health and addiction recovery fields, and identify health disparities in high-risk and vulnerable populations to ensure equity for support services across the nation,” the administration said in its release.

The creation of the new office drew praise from the National Coalition for Mental Health Recovery, an organization comprised of peer-run advocacy groups in 27 states whose members have lived experience of a mental health condition.

“The creation of the Office of Recovery implements the central goal of NCMHR of enhancing the voice of persons with lived experience at the national policy level,” NCMHR Chair Braunwynn Franklin said in a statement. “This Office of Recovery can continue the work of SAMHSA to fulfill the vision of [President Joe Biden’s] New Freedom Commission on Mental Health…and a goal of the commission that ‘mental healthcare Is consumer and family driven.’ The NCMHR looks forward to working with the Office of Recovery to bring the voices of persons with lived experience of a mental health condition to SAMHSA.”