Betty Ford Center Relaunching Awareness Hour as Global Livestream

Free Saturday morning inspiration & education series kicks off May 7

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (April 29, 2022) – A rich Betty Ford Center tradition is back in 2022 with a kickoff event on Saturday, May 7: Held on select Saturdays since 1976, the Recovery and Mental Health Awareness Hour is the longest-running recovery speaker series in the nation and now, for the first time, will be broadcast live across the United States and globe at HazeldenBettyFord.org/AwarenessHour.

The Awareness Hour has been a tradition of healing, hope, education and advocacy in the Coachella Valley for almost a half century. Now accessible to people across the globe, everyone is invited to attend, including: people in recovery from addiction and/or mental health concerns; people seeking or curious about recovery; supportive and/or concerned friends and family; treatment center patients; behavioral health and other health care professionals; recovery advocates; community leaders, partners and interested members of the public.

Attendees—both online and in person— will hear inspiring and relatable stories of healing, hope, recovery and renewal. They will learn about the latest individual, family and community resources available to help the millions of people affected by substance use, addiction and mental health concerns; discover new opportunities to engage and advocate, and—by sharing the experience with others in the room and around the world—connect in uplifting fellowship.

Recovery: The Greatest Victory of All
The 2022 premiere (Saturday, May 7, 2022, live streaming from 9:30-10:30 a.m. PDT) will feature Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation national recovery advocate William C. Moyers as he interviews NHL Hall-of-Famer Grant Fuhr and three-time Olympic gold medalist Carrie Bates about the private struggles they experienced amid public athletic glory, and their comeback stories that were sparked by the hope of recovery.

The free event will be held in, and broadcast from, the Helene Galen Auditorium at Eisenhower Medical Center, the Betty Ford Center's neighbor and longtime collaborator.

The Alcohol Awareness Hour was launched on Nov. 13, 1976, at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif., and adopted six years later by its new neighbor, the Betty Ford Center, which still carries on the speaker series' rich tradition of public education, inspiration and advocacy. Learn more about the history of the Awareness Hour.

About the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is a force of healing and hope for individuals, families and communities affected by addiction to alcohol and other drugs. As the nation's leading nonprofit provider of comprehensive inpatient and outpatient addiction and mental health care for adults and youth, the Foundation has treatment centers and telehealth services nationwide as well as a network of collaborators throughout health care. Through charitable support and a commitment to innovation, the Foundation is able to continually enhance care, research, programs and services, and help more people. With a legacy that began in 1949 and includes the 1982 founding of the Betty Ford Center, the Foundation today is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion in its services and throughout the organization, which also encompasses a graduate school of addiction studies, a publishing division, an addiction research center, recovery advocacy and thought leadership, professional and medical education programs, school-based prevention resources and a specialized program for children who grow up in families with addiction.