Abstaining from drugs and alcohol is just one part of recovery. In this scene from an emotional car ride home, Sarah opened up about having to face the trauma she sustained during her time in active addiction. With the help of a therapist she was able to process these feelings in a healthy way and emerge on the other side a stronger, healthier woman.
A lot of people fall into addiction because they’ve used drugs to numb a past trauma. Their drug use then makes them vulnerable to new trauma which in turn makes it all the more difficult to stop—this is known as the trauma/addiction cycle.
Savage Sisters offer free trauma therapy to their residents, just one of the reasons their long-term sobriety rate is the highest in Philadelphia, and just one example of the many ways Sarah uses her lived experience to inform her work.
Real & difficult conversations like this are what our film is all about. I hope that each new clip we share breeds a little more compassion around the disease of substance abuse.
Love you Sarah 💜