Mobile’s Fifth Annual Overdose Awareness and Recovery Month Kickoff Set for Aug. 31

A downtown Mobile event is bringing the community together to remember those lost to overdose — and to send one clear message to anyone still struggling: help is available.

The fifth annual Overdose Awareness Day and Recovery Month Kickoff Event is scheduled for Monday, Aug. 31, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the National Maritime Museum of the Gulf, 155 Water St. The event is free and open to the public, and organizers say it is meant to feel less like a formal program and more like a community gathering where neighbors can find one another, learn about local services and honor people they have lost.

An Evening of Remembrance and Hope

The evening will feature live music, community vendors and activities, but organizers say the purpose runs deeper than a celebration. The event is designed to connect people struggling with addiction — and the families who love them — with real resources and support. Information booths from treatment providers and recovery organizations will be set up throughout the museum’s waterfront spaces, and volunteers will be on hand to answer questions in plain language about how to access help.

Organizer Lori Myles started the gathering after losing her son to an overdose. Through the annual event, she hopes to raise awareness about addiction while helping other families find the support they need before tragedy strikes. For Myles, the annual kickoff is part remembrance and part outreach — a chance to put a human face on an issue that too often is discussed only in statistics.

Breaking the Stigma

Organizers say addiction can affect anyone, regardless of background, and many families struggle to find help for a loved one. That’s why the event aims to break the stigma surrounding substance use and encourage more open conversations about addiction, recovery and the challenges families face. Speakers and resource tables will address topics ranging from medication-assisted treatment to peer support groups and grief resources for those who have lost someone.

Attendees will find information booths from local treatment providers and support organizations, reminders that recovery is possible, and a community of people who understand the journey firsthand. International Overdose Awareness Day, observed globally on Aug. 31, is the world’s largest annual campaign to end overdose. Held every year since 2001, the campaign is coordinated by the Penington Institute in Australia and has grown into an international day of remembrance, education and action across dozens of countries.

September follows as National Recovery Month in the United States, celebrating the millions of Americans in recovery from mental health and substance use disorders. Locally, Mobile-area providers use the kickoff event to launch their Recovery Month activities, which typically include open houses, naloxone training, family education sessions and candlelight observances later in the month.

A Setting for Reflection on the Riverfront

The National Maritime Museum of the Gulf, on Mobile’s downtown riverfront, hosts the event for the community gathering, with the waterfront setting offering space for reflection as the sun sets over the Mobile River. The museum sits along Cooper Riverside Park and looks out toward the working port and the Cochrane Bridge, providing a backdrop that underscores both Mobile’s maritime heritage and the city’s role as a regional hub for health and social services.

Help Is Available Year-Round

For anyone who cannot attend, organizers stress that help is available year-round through local treatment providers, support groups and the national 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. The three-digit 988 line, launched in 2022, connects callers and texters to trained counselors 24 hours a day and is free and confidential from anywhere in the country.

Families looking for ongoing support in the Mobile area can also reach out to regional groups that maintain regular meetings, peer recovery support and family-to-family programs throughout the year, regardless of whether they make it to the Aug. 31 kickoff.

What to Expect at the Event

Beyond the resource booths, the evening will include live music from local performers, family-friendly activities for children, and a brief remembrance program to honor lives lost to overdose. Organizers have emphasized that the event is intentionally designed to be welcoming to people at every stage of the recovery journey — whether someone is taking a first step toward treatment, celebrating a milestone in recovery or grieving a family member or friend.

Volunteers from recovery community organizations will be available throughout the evening to talk with attendees in confidence, share information about local treatment options, and connect families with follow-up support. Many of the resources represented at the event serve Mobile, Baldwin and Washington counties, and several accept walk-ins for assessments or referrals to longer-term programs.

A Community Effort

The Overdose Awareness Day and Recovery Month Kickoff has grown each summer since its first gathering, drawing more community partners and a larger crowd year over year. Local healthcare providers, recovery residences, faith-based groups and peer support specialists typically take part, alongside city and county agencies that work on substance use prevention and harm reduction.

For Mobile, an event like this reflects the broader role the city has played in confronting the opioid crisis along the upper Gulf Coast. Hospital systems, first responders and community organizations have worked together in recent years to expand access to naloxone, the overdose-reversal medication, and to broaden peer recovery support programs that meet people in emergency rooms and follow them into longer-term care.

How to Get Involved

Organizers welcome volunteers, vendors and community partners who would like to be part of next year’s event. Those interested in supporting the Overdose Awareness Day effort — whether by helping with planning, donating refreshments, hosting a resource table or sharing their own recovery story — can reach out through the event’s community contacts to learn how to participate.

Most importantly, organizers say, the kickoff is meant to remind families across Mobile and the surrounding region that no one has to face addiction alone. Whether someone attends in person, lights a candle at home or simply shares information about local resources with a neighbor in need, the day’s message is the same: help is available, recovery is possible, and the community is stronger when people speak openly about the challenges addiction brings.

Why International Overdose Awareness Day Matters

International Overdose Awareness Day has been observed on Aug. 31 each year since 2001, when it was launched by the Penington Institute in Melbourne, Australia, to raise awareness of drug overdose, reduce the stigma associated with drug-related deaths and acknowledge the grief of families and friends who have lost loved ones to overdose. Today it is recognized in dozens of countries and is supported by a coalition of public health agencies, recovery advocates and community organizations around the world.

The campaign’s central goals include stimulating conversation about overdose prevention and drug policy, providing information about basic first aid responses to overdose, and sending a clear message that overdose deaths are preventable. The silver badge worn at awareness events symbolizes the value of every life lost to overdose, while the purple badge recognizes the grief of loved ones left behind.

Recovery Month Across Alabama

September’s designation as National Recovery Month dates to 1989, when it began as Treatment Works Month before being renamed in 1998. Each year, Recovery Month celebrations spotlight the gains made by people in recovery from mental health and substance use conditions and honor the treatment and recovery support providers who help make those gains possible.

Across Alabama, Recovery Month activities typically include awareness walks, recovery-friendly employer events, faith-based services, community panels and educational programming in schools and on college campuses. State agencies, county health departments and grassroots recovery organizations work together throughout September to spread the message that recovery is possible and that treatment and support services are available in every corner of the state.

Finding Help Locally

Anyone unable to attend the Mobile event can still find help through several local channels. The Mobile County Health Department, regional mental health centers and federally qualified health centers all provide substance use screenings, referrals and treatment, while community recovery organizations host regular peer-led support meetings in person and online. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, available by call or text 24 hours a day, connects people to trained counselors who can help with substance use, mental health crises and emotional distress.

Families unsure where to start can call 988 or contact a local provider to ask about intake, insurance options and the level of care that best fits their situation. For many people, that first phone call is the most important step toward recovery — and it is the kind of step the Aug. 31 kickoff is designed to make a little easier.

Additional information about harm reduction, naloxone access, recovery housing and family support programs throughout Southwest Alabama is available through the state’s substance abuse helpline and through the resource tables that will be set up at the museum on the evening of the event. Anyone who stops by is welcome to take materials home to share with friends, neighbors or family members who may not yet be ready to ask for help.

Update: Remembrance held as county data shows a recent spike

The fifth annual Overdose Awareness Day and Recovery Month kickoff was held the evening of Aug. 31, bringing together families, survivors and advocates for a night of remembrance at the National Maritime Museum of the Gulf. Overdose numbers in Mobile County are down this year, but officials say a recent spike shows the crisis is not over.

New surveillance data from the Mobile County Health Department shows overdose-related emergency room visits jumped 19% from March to April. Overdose-related 911 calls rose 9% over the same stretch, while naloxone administrations jumped 36%. Health officials called the rise in Narcan use encouraging, because it means more people are stepping in to save lives.

For Jacy Porter, who lost her brother to a fentanyl overdose in 2022, the day is personal. “He would light up any room he walked into. He was one of the best human beings I’ve ever met. It’s never going to get easier. People say it gets easier. It doesn’t. You just learn how to live with it,” Porter said. She and her family now advocate for people battling addiction while working to break the stigma that can keep families from talking about it.

Officials repeat two pieces of guidance for anyone who encounters a suspected overdose: call 911 first, and when in doubt, give Narcan anyway — it will not hurt someone who is not experiencing an opioid overdose. Narcan only buys time until the person can receive medical treatment. Help is available around the clock through the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.