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Healing Scarred Hearts: A Family’s Story of Addiction, Loss, and Finding Light

25Oct | 2018

posted by Emily Leave a Comment

In October I had the chance to read a little more often than I normally do. I found my hands on a great book called Healing Scarred Hearts: A Family’s Story of Addiction, Loss, and Finding Light, by mother, activist and author Susan Hoemke. I am always on the lookout for good books and resources for teen addiction and this one fit the bill perfectly.

teen addiction

This one is for sure going onto my list of book recommendations to families I work with. I find this book an open, honest account of how addiction harms not only the addict, but the one’s they love.

In this emotional memoir, Susan tells the heart-wrenching story of her son Hayden’’s eight-year battle with drug addiction, and of his tragic death at age twenty-two. Susan’s memoir inspires critical open dialogue on oft-avoided topics of drug and alcohol abuse.

I can’t imagine losing my child at such a young age from something so devastating as addiction but I can relate to the loss of family due to addiction. And that is why this book holds a special place in my heart.  Hoemke is using her family’s painful experience as a way to help prevent other young deaths by addiction. Her advocacy goes beyond the written words in her memoir, the purpose of this book is to help others prevent the loss of life.

…continue reading

Filed Under: Resources Tagged With: addiction, family resources for therapists, resources, teen addiction, teen resources for therapists

About this site

Welcome to my blog! My name is Emily and I am a therapist in Washington State. As a graduate student of social work I had a lot of unanswered questions. I started this blog as a way to help my fellow colleagues who are struggling to navigate as a student and first year clinician.

It has been my pleasure to learn about the different ways we as social workers can work together to create the ultimate experience for our clients. This blog serves as a resource for other students in social work both at the bachelors and masters level, as well as new social workers entering the field.

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