Mobilize Recovery Cross-Country Bus Tour Galvanizes Community, Prevents Overdoses

Mobilize Recovery Across America 2024
Kicking off on September 20, 2024, Mobilize Recovery Across America will depart on a cross-country bus tour, stopping in 15 cities throughout September and October to support substance use and mental health recovery efforts.

LAS VEGAS, April 18, 2024 (Newswire.com) - Mobilize Recovery announces its sixth annual initiative bringing together people in recovery and their allies, local and national nonprofits, private companies, policymakers, and federal agencies to celebrate recovery from substance use disorder and mental health challenges, raise public awareness, and prevent overdoses during National Addiction and Mental Health Recovery Month and throughout October 2024. 

Kicking off from Southern California on September 20, Mobilize Recovery Across America 2024 will depart on a cross-country bus tour, stopping in 15 cities during September and October. At each stop, community members, partners, and volunteers will offer community trainings, listening sessions, overdose response support, and they will engage local policymakers and communities on issues that matter to the recovery movement. 

Each event will be specific to the area in which it is held. Mobilize Recovery executive director Ryan Hampton states, “Building community is at the heart of the recovery movement. This tour will help center the voices, experiences, and hard work of local communities across the country who are on the frontlines of America’s addiction and mental health crisis. Each person’s recovery journey is unique and should be celebrated. Through this unifying experience, we hope to shine a light on their stories—and uplift recovery to the masses in a unique, meaningful, and moving way.”

Examples of local activation on tour stops include: 

• Distributing overdose prevention education, trainings, & resources (such as naloxone) at pop-up stations in local retail, commercial, & residential areas.
• Engaging policymakers in listening sessions with residents in their hometowns.
• Convening roundtables with local employers & businesses around topics such as mental health wellness for employees & recovery-ready workplace initiatives.
• Engaging schools through TEDx-style talks by recognizable individuals in recovery from addiction and/or mental health challenges.
• Empowering families through practical prevention tools & strategies offered through organizational partners & peers.
• Connecting participants to partner resources, advocacy tools, and discussion forums.
• Linking locally based events happening as part of Mobilize Recovery’s Day of Service with the national tour.

Meta and iHeartMedia will renew their longstanding support for Mobilize Recovery’s mission by providing substantial promotional support, including mass-market broadcast radio, public service announcements featuring notable recording artists and personalities, and digital promotions. In addition, major support for the 2024 initiative is coming from Braeburn, Inseparable, the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, and Opioid Response Network.

“Both Meta and iHeartMedia have been critical to the success of Mobilize Recovery—and their commitment to the recovery community is an example for other major corporations to follow. When we mainstream recovery, more people find help and more lives are saved,” said Ryan Hampton.

“We are committed to helping connect people with resources to raise awareness about the dangers of illicit drug misuse and support individuals in recovery and their families. We're proud to partner with Mobilize Recovery and continue our shared mission of supporting those affected,” said Neil Potts, Vice President of Trust and Safety at Meta.

“The 2024 Mobilize Recovery initiative leverages the creativity, commitment, knowledge, and resilience of the recovery community to break stigma and celebrate the achievements of the nearly 50 million Americans in recovery from substance use and mental health conditions,” said Miriam E. Delphin-Rittmon, Ph.D., HHS Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use and the leader of SAMHSA. “The bus tour will visit communities across the country, providing lifesaving resources including training, naloxone, and importantly, hope.”

Executive Vice President of iHeartMedia Unified Partnerships, Alexandra Cameron, said, “This award-winning recovery program has been part of a longstanding commitment, and we are thrilled to continue to elevate our partnership supporting the important mission of Mobilize Recovery. iHeartMedia delivers public education, promotes available resources to help prevent overdose and reduce stigma—telling the positive and inspiring stories of America’s recovery community. These efforts are central to our annual iHeart Recovery Month. Every year, we also invite influencers with lived experience to join us in celebrating recovery and amplify those messages, proving that recovery is real. From across the iHeartMedia universe to on the ground support and activations, iHeart Recovery Month contributes to meaningful behavior change outcomes supporting all the communities we serve. “

“The connections between people are so important–sharing stories, supporting each other, knowing we’re all in it together,” said Bill Smith, founder and CEO of Inseparable, a national nonprofit committed to advancing mental health advocacy. “We are so proud to be partners in the Mobilize Recovery bus tour as it facilitates these connections in communities across the country. This is how we come together to ensure that people have the support they need to live their best lives.”

The 2024 Mobilize Recovery initiative is being co-chaired by Melissa Etheridge, Danny Trejo, Noah Thompson, Fitz and the Tantrums, former NBA player Chris Herren, Dr. Miriam Delphin-Rittmon (Administrator of SAMHSA), Neil Potts (VP of Trust and Safety at Meta), and Dr. Karen DeSalvo (Chief Health Officer at Google). 

The bus tour route and local events will be announced on Facebook through Mobilize Recovery’s Facebook page on Monday, June 10th, and on their website. Individuals and community organizations interested in participating are encouraged to sign up for updates at www.mobilizerecovery.org.

For many, the power of Mobilize Recovery is its ability to reach partners of all kinds across the country. At every stop on the bus tour, participants sign the bus in honor of their own recovery or that of a loved one, or to memorialize someone they’ve lost. By the end of the tour, the bus is covered in signatures and messages, connecting individuals in very different places, all of whom have been touched by addiction and mental health challenges.

These participants are a diverse group, made up of advocates, creators, people in recovery and their family members, and people working on the front lines of the overdose epidemic gripping the United States. Mobilize Recovery engages them all to develop action-oriented goals that can be measured and scaled, and to empower and inspire their communities to make change. 

In addition to cornerstone support from iHeartMedia, Meta, SAMHSA, and Inseparable, Mobilize Recovery partners with national and local organizations for substantial support and other significant participation. Some of these partners include Google, Opioid Response Network, Braeburn, Masimo Foundation for Ethics, National Council for Mental Wellbeing, Partnership to End Addiction, Young People in Recovery, Bicycle Health, Arnall Golden Gregory, Shatterproof, Behavioral Health Group, The Kennedy Forum, Foundation for Recovery, The Phoenix, The Herren Project, Truth Initiative, Hazelden Betty Ford, McShin Foundation, Aliya Health Group, Caron Foundation, Release Recovery, Discovery Institute for Addictive Disorders, CCAPP, Pew Charitable Trusts, Oxford Houses, Get Help, NAATP, and more.

About Mobilize Recovery

Mobilize Recovery brings together recovery advocates, nonprofit organizations, allies, business leaders and brands, government partners, and like-minded community-based organizations with an interest in creating sustainable change and community solutions. Engaging year-round with our Mobilizers, we provide partnership support and education to uplift and sustain their work, developing action-oriented goals that can be measured and scaled. We believe in the power of a bottom-up approach that supports advocates, creators, and communities on the front lines.

About Mobilize Recovery Day of Service

Mobilize Recovery Day of Service is a constellation of connected public service events taking place nationally, harnessing the power of people in recovery and their allies for positive change in local communities. Since 2019, Mobilize Recovery has convened people in recovery and their allies to advocate for policy change and awareness. Together, we have built a “constituency of consequence” that cares about substance use and mental health recovery. The Mobilize Recovery Day of Service harnesses the power of that community to effect positive change in localities all over the nation. We invite partners of all kinds—businesses, nonprofits, federal agencies, recovery groups, and more—to host a service event in their local area during the months of September and October that creates positive change. 

How to learn more and participate:

Mobilize Recovery: www.mobilizerecovery.org

Recovery Day of Service: www.recoverydayofservice.org