Substance use disorder (SUD) recovery is a complex, lifelong process requiring coordinated support across health care, social services, and community systems. Unlike other chronic conditions, SUD is episodic and has uniquely high stakes due to the lethality of the current drug supply. The lethality of today’s drug supply means that a gap in care or a recurrence of symptoms can quickly become fatal.

Grief is a natural response to loss. It’s the emotional suffering you feel when something or someone you love is taken away. Often, the pain of loss can feel overwhelming. You may experience a range of complex and unexpected emotions, including shock, anger, disbelief, guilt, and profound sadness.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), globally, more than 720,000 men, women, and children die by suicide each year, impacting almost 1 billion people directly bereaved or known to those who died.

Eight years ago, my world shattered. My fiancé, Olivier, died by suicide just weeks before our wedding. We were living together in France, far from English-speaking support services, and left in grief, shock, and isolation. Losing someone to suicide is unlike any other kind of loss. It leaves you with unanswered questions, deep pain, and often an unbearable silence from the world around you.

Author Dr. Saba Riaz will explore how trauma and emotional stress from early life experiences can disrupt the neurochemical balance in the brain. According to Dr. Riaz, “Addiction strongly affects neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin that regulate mood, reward, and impulse control. Chronic stress and trauma cause changes in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis that create a biochemical environment that increases the probability of addiction.”

The Role of Inner Child Healing in Overcoming Adult-Child Syndrome explores the importance of reconnecting with the inner child to address Adult-Child Syndrome (ACS).Stephanie Watterson is our author. Stephanie grew up in a home affected by mental illness, with a mother who struggled with mental health issues and an emotionally unavailable workaholic father.

Kirsten Rabuck collaborates with me as a co-author for this issue. She is a substance abuse counselor and an adult child of an alcoholic father, just like me. Together, we draw on our experiences as adult children to help others facing similar challenges.

Cendie Stanford is passionate about understanding and preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). Drawing on her personal and ancestral history of trauma, Cendie is dedicated to educating and inspiring others.

Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional. Pain is a natural part of life, but it does not have to rule it. Our thoughts and perceptions about pain cause suffering. People needlessly suffer for many years with substance abuse addiction. Unfortunate events, problems, and disappointments are the first arrows that cause pain. The second arrow may be self-deprecating thoughts, self-blame, or getting down on yourself. The key is not to grab a substance, alcohol, or drugs to heal t

In Part I of The Power Of Recovery, Chad shared how his addiction began and what changed his life. In Part II, Chad will share details about his present life and ongoing recovery. His wife, Christy, will share her life story and the factors that brought them together.