A few weeks ago, SAMHSA launched a major health reform education effort with the announcement of awards for health reform education to eight peer or recovery community organizations.  In the coming months SAMHSA will continue to use the blog as a launching point for health reform updates and health insurance enrollment activities, such as the launch of SAMHSA’s new health insurance enrollment webpage, where individuals can go to find information to enroll in health insurance or States and providers can find helpful planning resources and see enrollment activities from across …

The winter holiday season can be a wonderful – though stressful – time of year. To help keep a balanced mindset, we at SAMHSA want to remind everyone to take time to focus on your mental, emotional and behavioral health and well-being during the holidays. We also ask you to be aware that traffic fatalities involving drivers under the influence of alcohol or drugs increase during the holidays. Due to the number of driving fatalities during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays,[i] President Barack Obama has declared December National Impaired …

May 8 – 14 is Alcohol and Other Drug-Related Birth Defects Awareness Week. SAMHSA wants to use this as an opportunity to raise awareness and educate the public about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD).
According to the Surgeon General’s Advisory on Alcohol Use in Pregnancy, when a pregnant woman drinks, so does her baby; thus, women, their partners, families, and friends need to understand that no amount of alcohol has been proven safe during any stage of pregnancy. Alcohol causes abnormalities when it crosses from the mother’s bloodstream through the umbilical …