Breaking the Cycle: How Trauma-Informed Care Can Revolutionize SUD Treatment

Author of the Month

December 8, 2025

Katherine Reynolds, Author & Wayfinder Recovery Coaching

Tom O'Connor, Publisher

Author Katherine Reynolds is a Certified Trauma-Informed Mental Health & Substance Use Recovery Coach as well as an Alcohol and Drug Counselor. She is the founder of Wayfinder Recovery Coaching (https://www.way-finder-recovery.com/). 

According to Katherine Reynolds:

Traditional Substance Use Disorder (SUD) treatment often falls short in achieving long-term recovery because it frequently overlooks a critical factor: the profound impact of trauma on addiction. Trauma-informed care (TIC) recognizes the widespread role trauma plays in a person's life and incorporates this understanding into all parts of treatment, shifting the focus from "What's wrong with you?" to "What happened to you?"

This shift in perspective, though seemingly small, is truly revolutionary. It can be the difference between relapse and recovery, shame and healing, silence and transformation.

My Story: When Labels Replace Listening

Before I became a recovery coach, I was a teenager struggling with emotional pain I couldn't articulate or comprehend. I was crippled by anxiety, prone to self-harm, and haunted by intrusive thoughts. Instead of delving into my experiences, I was handed labels: depression, bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder. Each diagnosis brought new medications, side effects, and a growing belief that something was fundamentally wrong with me.

What no one asked—what no one even seemed curious about—was why I felt this way. No one connected the dots between my panic attacks and the fire that destroyed my home, between my cutting and my childhood trauma, between my desperate need to escape and the things I had endured.

I didn't find relief through medication alone. I found it when someone finally listened—listened—with compassion and without judgment. That's when I began to heal. And that's the foundation of trauma-informed care.

What Is Trauma-Informed Care?

Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) isn't a specific intervention or protocol—it's a philosophy of service delivery that assumes trauma is common and often invisible. Instead of viewing behaviors like substance use, emotional dysregulation, or treatment resistance as willful or pathological, TIC asks:

• How might trauma be influencing this person's choices or behaviors?

• What strengths has this person developed to survive?

• What would safety and trust look like for them right now?

TIC prioritizes safety, trustworthiness, empowerment, choice, and collaboration. These aren't buzzwords—they're the pillars that can rebuild a person's sense of agency and worth after trauma has eroded it.

The Link Between Trauma and Substance Use

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), individuals with a history of trauma are significantly more likely to develop a substance use disorder. Studies show that over two-thirds of people in SUD treatment report at least one traumatic life event—many report multiple. 

Trauma and Addiction are Deeply Interconnected:

• Substances often become a coping mechanism. When emotional regulation skills are absent, drugs and alcohol offer temporary relief.

• Trauma can dysregulate the nervous system. This leads to chronic hyperarousal (anxiety, rage) or hypoarousal (numbness, dissociation), both of which substances can momentarily soothe.

• Shame and secrecy thrive in trauma. This prevents people from seeking help early, especially in systems that pathologize symptoms without asking about their origins.

Why Traditional SUD Models Fall Short

Many SUD programs are still rooted in outdated, punitive, or one-size-fits-all models. They may demand immediate abstinence, enforce rigid rules, or view relapse as a failure rather than a learning opportunity. For trauma survivors, these approaches can feel eerily reminiscent of environments where power was abused, boundaries were violated, or control was wrested from the individual.

Here are a few ways traditional treatment can inadvertently retraumatize clients:

• Lack of autonomy: Strict rules with little room for negotiation.

• Forced group participation: Sharing before someone is ready can be emotionally unsafe.

• Authoritarian structures: "Tough love" tactics can mimic past abuse. 

• Dismissal of co-occurring mental health symptoms: Clients are told to get sober before addressing depression, anxiety, or PTSD

What Trauma-Informed SUD Treatment Looks Like

When trauma-informed principles are applied to SUD treatment, the focus shifts from control to connection, from compliance to collaboration. It's a model that respects individuality and autonomy, making them feel valued and respected.

Here's what that can look like:

• Peer support and lived experience are at the center of our approach. Clients benefit from seeing others who've walked similar paths and are now thriving.

• Safety—both physical and emotional—is a top priority. Clients are never forced to share or participate in ways that compromise their dignity.

• Relapse is viewed as a natural part of the healing process. Providers approach it with curiosity rather than condemnation.

• Treatment plans are individualized. Clients help co-create goals that reflect their needs, values, and readiness.

• Therapists and coaches are trauma-informed. They recognize signs of dissociation, nervous system dysregulation, and learned helplessness—and respond skillfully.

A Real-Life Transformation

I once worked with a woman in her late 60s who developed a dependency on alcohol after retiring. Outwardly, her life had seemed stable: she'd had a successful career, raised a family, and was involved in her community. But after retirement, the structure that had kept her going suddenly disappeared, and with it, so did the distractions that helped her avoid the pain she had carried since childhood.

Beneath the surface was a lifetime of unresolved trauma. She had endured chronic emotional neglect and abuse throughout her childhood, including verbal degradation, isolation, and a complete lack of safety in her own home. Like many trauma survivors, she became skilled at masking her pain: overachieving, caretaking, and maintaining appearances. But that pain never left her body. It lived there quietly for decades, until retirement created enough stillness to surface.

She began drinking in the evenings to help her sleep, to quiet her nervous system, to push the memories away. Over time, drinking became a daily coping mechanism. When she sought help, traditional treatment approaches left her feeling misunderstood and judged. One program told her she lacked motivation. Another insisted on immediate abstinence without addressing the reasons she drank in the first place.

But everything shifted when she began working with a trauma-informed team. She wasn't asked, "Why are you still drinking?" She was asked, "What has alcohol helped you survive?" For the first time, her story was met with empathy, not shame. Her trauma was acknowledged, not dismissed.

Together, we explored safer ways to regulate her nervous system through somatic practices, mindfulness, peer connection, and trauma-informed therapy. She built a recovery plan rooted in self-compassion rather than self-discipline. And most importantly, she began to believe that healing was possible even now, even at this stage in life. Today, she no longer relies on alcohol to get through the day.

*Here is another of Katherine's articles. Please read it here

The Bottom Line: Healing Happens in Safety

Trauma-informed care isn't about excusing behavior—it's about understanding it. It's about creating conditions for healing, where people are treated not as broken problems to be fixed but as whole humans carrying pain they never chose to have.

As a recovery coach, I've seen what happens when we make this shift. Clients who've cycled through treatment centers for years suddenly start making progress. People who thought they were beyond help began to open up. And those who were once stuck in shame begin to see themselves with compassion.

That's not a miracle. That's trauma-informed care in action.

Final Thoughts

If we genuinely want to break the cycle of addiction, we must stop treating symptoms in isolation. We must start listening to stories with an open heart and a trauma-informed lens.

Recovery isn't just about stopping the behavior—it's about healing what lies beneath it.

Healing starts with being seen, being heard, and feeling safe.

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Katherine Reynolds is a Certified Trauma-Informed Mental Health & Substance Use Recovery Coach, Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor, and founder of Wayfinder Recovery Coaching. She specializes in supporting individuals with co-occurring disorders and complex trauma. Katherine lives in Mahopac, NY, and can be reached at 845-581-0071. You can also visit her website at www.Way-Finder-Recovery.com.

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