Vital Voyage Authors' Bookshelf
“A Heroin User’s Guide to Harm Reduction: Staying Alive in the Age of Fentanyl and Xylazine” is not just a book—it’s a lifeline. As the opioid crisis devastates communities with fentanyl-tainted heroin, this visceral guide offers a compassionate, non-judgmental approach to understanding and surviving heroin use. Written by a seasoned substance use counselor who survived 20 years as a street junkie, this book blends lived experience with professional expertise to save lives.
In the face of addiction, recovery is not just about breaking free from substances—it’s about rebuilding your life with strength, purpose, and resilience. Resilience Blueprint for Early Recovery is your essential guide to unlocking the inner fortitude needed not just to survive, but thrive in early recovery.
In the heartfelt pages of "Wake Up," Chris Coulter bares his soul to share the powerful journey of his daughter, Maddie. This emotionally charged narrative not only celebrates Maddie's radiant spirit but serves as a poignant reminder that no family is immune to the devastating impact of suicide. Coulter delves into the painful lessons learned along the way, offering profound insights to parents about the importance of reflection, listening, and learning. Through the tears and trials, while keeping your layout clean. Link your text to anything, or set your text box to expand on click. Write your text here...
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The path to happiness isn’t what you think. It’s not about achieving more success, getting everything you want, or fixing what’s wrong. It’s not about changing your circumstances—it’s about learning to thrive despite them. The problem? Your mind wasn’t designed for happiness. It’s wired for survival. It overthinks, clings to fear, and keeps happiness just out of reach. It will hold you back and keep you playing small—if you let it. Psychologist Dr. Ashley Smith knows this firsthand. Born with a rare degenerative retinal disease that makes her legally and increasingly blind, she’s spent years studying how our minds work—both professionally and in her own life. She knows what it takes to build real happiness—not the kind that depends on everything going right, but the kind that lasts even when life gets hard.
In Discover Your Adult Child, O'Connor merges his research on the Adult Child of an Alcoholic Syndrome with personal anecdotes to help others overcome childhood trauma inflicted by an alcoholic parent. Offering empathy and hope, O'Connor shares survival skills and specific action items to allow adult children of alcoholics to better understand themselves and ultimately live a more stable, peaceful life. Both a memoir and a self-help guide, the book is a welcome resource for adult children of alcoholics in need of validation.
Written by Michael Cline After a random act of kindness on the cold streets of New York City, one man begins a desperate search for sobriety and peace. His journey carries him through dead-end jobs and failed relationships, from Philadelphia to his hometown and back to New York, while the demons of his past refuse to loosen their grip. Whendarkness finally drives him to the edge, a ghostly voice whispers an unlikely truth: salvation may be waiting deep in the Peruvian jungle. New York Recovery Days is a raw, gripping memoir of addiction, madness, depression, and the long road back to self-discovery.
A wild ride into the rabbit hole of heroin addiction in old-school New York City. A glimpse into a man's descent into madness as he falls deeper into addiction, hitting new lows and eventually finding redemption. Poignant, raw, and honest, this memoir lets you experience a dark world few have ever encountered. Set against the gritty backdrop of the East Village in the 80s and 90s, it includes stories of random meetings with three of the four Ramones, working for Michael Alig, a hilarious encounter with Allen Ginsberg, and a darker one with Herbert Huncke. This stream-of-consciousness memoir offers a visceral and honest eyewitness account of downtown culture, addiction, survival, and the dawn of recovery. If you enjoy books about NYC and heroin addiction, this is the book for you.
Tim has released a short, practical e-book called Developing a Mindset for Recovery, free to all current Substack Wreckage to Recovery subscribers. Follow this link to download this valuable e-book, subscribe to Tim's Substack, or purchase it.
The Circle Stays Unbroken tells the story of Eli and his brother Sammy, growing up in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, where loons call across the lake and family isn’t always what you expect. When their father returns home after time away in prison, Eli hopes for a fresh start—a chance to rebuild the family circle that addiction and absence have stretched thin. But healing proves to be complicated. Their father’s struggles with addiction and mental health cast long shadows over their lives, creating silence where there should be conversation and cracks where there should be support. Through Eli’s eyes, readers witness the everyday challenges of navigating love and loss, confusion and resilience, as the family grapples with brokenness and the slow, messy path toward recovery.
