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 Recovery

by Darla Belflower

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

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.

176 pages, Paperback

Published September 1, 2025

About the author

Darla Belflower is a person in long term recovery from substance use disorder. She has worked in leadership in the substance use disorder and behavioral health fields for over three decades. She is a Clinically Licensed Social Worker in both Missouri and Kansas, is a Licensed Addiction Counselor in Kansas, Certified Reciprocal Advanced Alcohol & Drug Counselor in MO, Certified Peer Specialist, Certified Tabaco Treatment Specialist, and is a trainer and educator of Naloxone distribution. She obtained her MSW from KU and she has a BS in Psychology and Alcohol and Drug Studies from Missouri Valley College. She has made presentations at numerous professional conferences, seminars and trainings at the local, state and national levels. She has her own LLC private practice.