“New year, new me!” This common phrase, echoed each year in January, embraces the air of change that comes with a new year. While it is not necessary to wait until a new year to make changes for our health, January is a time for fresh starts. Embracing the spirit of opportunity and change, January 2025 will mark SAMHSA’s first annual Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Treatment Month. Each week in January will feature a theme:

December is a month of transition, as many communities across our country make the shift from cool, bright autumn days to longer, colder nights. As we busily prepare for upcoming meals and seasonal celebrations with friends and family, it is an apt time to reflect on what home means to us. Protection from the elements, a place to store our treasures and life’s necessities, a site of belonging and being with the people we love, somewhere soft to lay our head each night, and a place we can return to ourselves day after day – home can mean so much.

World AIDS Day, established in 1988 and observed annually on December 1, is a day to commemorate the 42 million people globally who have died from AIDS-related illnesses since the start of the epidemic, and honor the more than 39 million people including 1.2 million Americans, living with HIV around the world.

Meet Analise. Analise has a fulfilling life: a loving family, supportive friends, a meaningful career, financial stability, and optimistic plans for the future. Yet this year, as cooler weather creeps in and days become shorter, Analise finds herself consumed by fatigue, craving sweets, and feeling a sense of dread.

Grief, in many ways, is a universal experience. In the United States alone, millions of people experience grief and bereavement each year due to a variety of reasons, including the loss of loved ones or experiencing a traumatic event, illness, disaster, or violence. The number of individuals reporting grief and bereavement has increased in recent years, especially considering the COVID-19 pandemic, overdose epidemic, and elevated rates of suicide.