John Makohen argues that the first use of heroin is often not the beginning of addiction. Years of trauma, stress, loneliness, mental health symptoms, prior substance use, pain, and learned relief may already have shaped the brain's coping patterns - which means prevention must begin much earlier than the drug itself.

Tammy Adler Foeller asks a question many trauma survivors know well: If I understand what happened, why can't I just move on? She explains how trauma can keep the brain's alarm system on high alert, why reasoning becomes harder in survival mode, and why safety, regulation, and trustworthy relationships matter.

Joshua Coleman, PhD, explores a painful part of family estrangement: losing not only contact, but control over the story of who you are. He asks readers to hold two truths at once - real harm must not be hidden, yet no accusation, screenshot, or single memory can fully capture a family or a person.

John Makohen explains how chronic stress can quietly change sleep, judgment, impulse control, and the brain's search for relief. When distress becomes constant, alcohol, drugs, food, gambling, scrolling, or work can feel like fast solutions - and recovery must teach safety again.

Joshua Bennett-Johnson shares an anonymous client's path from severe alcohol and cocaine use to three years of recovery. The turning point was not rejection or forced readiness, but continued connection, client autonomy, urgent medical care, and one steady message: you are not alone.

Brandy Bower once believed guilt and shame were the same. Recovery taught her that guilt can focus on harmful choices and invite accountability, while shame attacks identity and fuels isolation. She shares how facing her past without condemning herself finally made healing possible.

Vital Voyage September Author of the Month: Tammy Adler Foeller once believed trauma belonged to other people. Studying trauma through her recovery work led her to recognize inherited patterns of caretaking, conflict avoidance, and hyper-responsibility in her own life - and to understand how family silence can shape the next generation.

Lara Holmes asks a powerful question: what if your body is not working against you, but trying to communicate? She explains how somatic therapy can help people notice tension, breath, movement, numbness, and other nervous-system signals while building greater safety through grounding, pacing, mindfulness, and compassionate attention.

Jennifer Thomas examines the hidden mental health cost of always having to appear strong. For many Black women, chronic racial stress, vigilance, perfectionistic coping, anxiety, depression, grief, and substance use can remain invisible behind high achievement. Good therapy begins by naming the context, not pathologizing survival.

Why do people return to behaviors they genuinely hate? Andrew Tatarsky explains that harmful patterns often began as coping strategies that offered relief, protection, connection, or escape. Through Integrative Harm Reduction Psychotherapy, the question shifts from “What’s wrong with me?” to “What is this behavior doing for me?”