Today’s Show Hello, and welcome to episode 35 The JOY Factor. My guest today is trauma specialist and substance abuse counselor Stephanie Snyder. You can read more about Stephanie’s background here .  Listen in as Stephanie shares her unique perspective on joy and healing as it relates to substance addiction and recovery. What We’ll Learn Healing is a mind, body and soul experience. When someone starts the journey of healing and goes from surviving to thriving they are able to see joy and beauty in the little things and eventually the bigger things!  A recovery saying Stephanie references: I can hear the birds sing again. You have recovered enough and have healed enough that you can hear things that are outside of yourself instead of only being able to focus on what’s going on inside of you.  Questions to consider when considering getting help. We need to speak out against mental health stigmas. Labels dehumanize people.  Treatment success depends on having safe, non-judgmental space to address the fear and intimidation clients may feel. Recovery and the development of self-worth develops in phases. Families need to heal together. It’s not just one person, the whole family unit is impacted.  Society has put so many expectations on parents. The first thing to help parents understand: This is not your fault.  Our children learn how to cope with things not just through the family unit but from other things they’re surrounded by in society. A few considerations regarding medicinal marijuana use. Child’s brain is still developing until 21. Just like with alcohol and cigarettes, there’s a legal age and biological factors that need to be factored in.  Very important to educate yourself before you engage in any kind of medicine based treatment. You can’t advocate for yourself and learn how to take care of yourself if you don’t know what’s going into your body.  Consult a professional and educate yourself.  Medical grade and CBD products are very different from street marijuana.  The amount of fentanyl on the streets is scary. Very easily absorbed through the skin.  If someone is considering medical marijuana I advocate for them to do it the safe, legal way and not just buy it off the street.  Favorite quote: “My goal is to do better than I did yesterday.” Resources  Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration Know the risks of marijuana National Institute on Drug Abuse  Trauma Informed Substance Abuse Treatment   Thank you for Listening It is a true honor to bring this podcast to you and I am so grateful that you took the time to listen. If you enjoyed the show, please share it with your friends and family. The JOY Factor Podcast Do you have a second to complete this brief listener survey? It helps our show track who is listening so we can create topics of interest to you!  http://survey.libsyn.com/thejoyfactorpodcast