The Trauma-Informed Workbook for Addiction: Evidence-Based Skills to Heal the Pain at the Root of Your Substance Use and Build Resilience for Lasting

To heal from substance use, you must first heal the trauma at the heart of your addiction. This compassionate workbook can guide you, step by step, on the road to lasting recovery.

If you have experienced trauma in your life--particularly childhood trauma--and also struggle with addiction, you should know that you are not alone. Many people with substance use disorders have experienced some form of trauma that drives their addiction. Emotions that surface after trauma can include anger, fear, sadness, helplessness, and shame. These emotions can lead to low self-esteem, poor impulse control, and set you up for developing addictive behaviors. That’s why acknowledging and working through these feelings is essential to healing from substance use. But where do you start?

Written by an addiction specialist, this trauma-informed workbook offers evidence-based tools grounded in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and harm reduction to help you heal the pain at the root of your addiction, improve your communication skills, make positive changes, gain self-control, and boost resilience to find lasting recovery.

You’ll also discover skills to help you:

• Increase self-awareness and assertiveness
• Work through difficult emotions
• Develop healthy coping strategies
• Create your own plan for recovery

More and more, research shows us that trauma and addiction go hand in hand. In order to effectively treat substance use, you must also treat the underlying cause. The dual approach in this breakthrough workbook can help you do just that.

Darla Belflower, LCSW, has worked in leadership in the substance-use disorder and behavioral health fields for over three decades. She has a passion for teaching others what she has learned in those years and keeps up to date on current best practices. She is vice chair of the Kansas City Recovery Coalition, and is a member of The Missouri State Behavioral Health Councils Culture, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (CEDI) Committee. She is also a member of the Missouri State Advisory Council for mental health and substance use disorders.

Belflower is a clinically licensed social worker in both Missouri and Kansas, is a licensed addiction counselor in Kansas, a certified reciprocal advanced alcohol & drug counselor in Missouri, and is a trainer and educator of Narcan distribution She presents at 7-10 conference workshops per year where she can promote the book. These are local in Kansas City, Kansas state, in Missouri, and national conferences.