This can be a very difficult time for many while COVID-19 continues to spread globally.

Unfortunately many sham sites are popping up on the internet that are either misleading, looking to incite, or simply trying to take advantage of people during this time of stress.

It is normal to feel vulnerable, but it is even more important to be able to access trustworthy, accurate information in order to stay educated and ready.

Please follow the recommended guidelines from your local, state and federal public health institutions:

• For City of Los Angeles updates and where to go for testing, click here
• County of Los Angeles Public Health is tracking all local cases of COVID-19. You can access all the latest updates and advisories for LA County here.
• State of California is maintaining its latest updates and advisories here
• For National guidelines through the CDC,  click here.
• How to Protect Yourself

Other reputable sites to help you stay up-to-date:

• Los Angeles Times
• https://covid19.ca.gov/
• World Health Organiztion (WHO)

Online and Telephone Support Groups:

Treatment providers and peer support specialists looking for online and telephone support groups for their patients/peers should review this list maintained by ATTC. Both 12 Step and non-12 Step-based online support groups are identified. This is not an exhaustive list but the links are active. After an initial review, NONE of these sites are associated with specific treatment/recovery centers and do not require individuals to register first to access online group support services. 

These are established organizations that share a common goal of community recovery support. Typically these are not-for-profit entities that require no or minimal monetary contribution. 

Scientific research supports that having a strong  community support system will improve one's chances of recovery

Even though most of these organizations are effective, accessible, and open to anyone seeking recovery support, they are not licensed, certified or otherwise regulated or monitored by any government or accreditation agency for treatment effectiveness.

Caution should be used if anyone within these programs that is not a licensed healthcare professional is offering medical or treatment advice. Medication and treatment advice should always be deferred to someone with a valid license in their area of expertise.

Here are some of the better known organizations in this category:

• Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international fellowship of men and women who have had a drinking problem. It is nonprofessional, self-supporting, multiracial, apolitical, and available almost everywhere. There are no age or education requirements. Membership is open to anyone who wants to do something about his or her drinking problem.
• Narcotic Anonymous (NA) is a nonprofit fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem. Participants are recovering addicts who meet regularly to help each other stay clean.
• Refuge Recovery is a non-profit organization grounded in the belief that Buddhist principles and practices create a strong foundation for a path to freedom from addiction.
• Smart Recovery is an abstinence-oriented, not-for-profit organization for individuals with addictive problems. Self-empowering, free mutual support meetings focus on ideas and techniques to help you change your life from one that is self-destructive and unhappy to one that is constructive and satisfying.
• In The Rooms has grown into a global online community with over 500,000 members who share their strength and experience with one another daily. Through live meetings, discussion groups, and all the other tools In the Rooms has to offer, people from around the world connect with one another and help each other along their recovery journeys.
• MARA International (Medication-Assisted Treatment Anonymous) is a support group of people who believe in the value of medication as a means to recovery.

Other organizations that may be worth looking into are:

• Cocaine Anonymous
• LifeRing
• Celebrate Recovery
• Women for Sobriety
• Harm Reduction
• Empowered Recovery
• Rational Recovery

Online forums may be helpfull for some:

Keep in mind that these are generally unmonitored, so language and attitudes can at times seem offensive to some as contibutors share their experiences. Sometimes the posted advice from various contributors is also questionable.

• You Are Not Alone In This Fight    (Reddit opioid recovery forum)
• /r/stopdrinking: a support group in your pocket!  (Reddit alcohol forum)

There are many helpful, reputable websites that provide up to date information regarding different types of substance abuse.

Alcohol

Alcohol Research: Current Reviews (ARCR) is a peer-reviewed journal published by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).

Each issue of ARCR includes a series of invited review articles focused on an important area of alcohol research. Topics are proposed by members of the Editorial Advisory Board or NIAAA staff and cover a wide range of disciplines.

Government organizations consist of various agencies generally organized under the Administrative branches of government at the federal, state and local levels.

These agencies conduct research, gather data, formulate policy as well as provide education to the general public

• U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA for short, is responsible for monitoring all types of controlled substances in the U.S. Here is the link to their 2022 Drugs of Abuse Resource Guide

There are numerous organizations that are dedicated to providing free education and support to those and their loved ones that are struggling with mental health and/or addictions. Some of these organizations are helping drive policy change to make needed resources more readily available.

• Mental Health America is a community-based nonprofit dedicated to addressing the needs of those living with mental illness and to promoting the overall mental health of all Americans. They offer many online screening tools as well as information to help in understsanding as well as combating mental illness.
• The Drug Policy Alliance envisions a just society in which the use and regulation of drugs are grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights, in which people are no longer punished for what they put into their own bodies but only for crimes committed against others, and in which the fears, prejudices and punitive prohibitions of today are no more