During this month, we at TriCity Family Services ask you to join us as we recognize September as National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month.

"Substance use and mental health issues (i.e., "behavioral health issues") affect millions of adolescents and adults in the United States. Behavioral health problems, particularly depression, contribute to the burden of disease worldwide.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) supports preventing behavioral health problems and finding the pathway to recovery for those with behavioral health conditions.

SAMHSA's message is that behavioral health is essential to overall health, prevention works, treatment is effective, and people can and do recover. Recovery support is one of the strategic initiatives identified by SAMHSA to improve the nation's behavioral health, reduce the burden of substance use disorders and mental illness in the United States, and help those with behavioral health conditions reclaim their lives.

The data below from the 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) provides a recent look at behavioral health in the United States."

• In 2013, about 1 in 10 adolescents (10.7 percent) had a major depressive episode (MDE) in the past year. Among adolescents with MDE, 38.1 percent received treatment or counseling for depression in the past year.
   
• In 2013, nearly 1 in 5 adults aged 18 or older (18.5 percent) had a mental illness (i.e., "any mental illness," or AMI) in the past year; 4.2 percent had a serious mental illness (SMI); and 3.9 percent had serious thoughts of suicide in the past year.
   
• In 2013, 1.4 percent of adolescents had co-occurring MDE and substance use disorder (SUD); 3.2 percent of adults had co-occurring AMI and SUD; and 1.0 percent of adults had co-occurring SMI and SUD.