Shattered: Stories of Lives Broken by Substance Abuse and How We Put the Pieces Back Together is a compilation of personal stories revolving around substance abuse and how this disease has impacted our lives. Several of the writers lost loved ones to drugs and alcohol, some have dedicated their lives to helping those in need, some have battled their addictions, recovered, and come out stronger than ever, and all of them have witnessed the effects on family and friends.Shattered tackles addiction from several different angles. Each inspiring story is unique; written in that specific writer’s voice, but all of us express our vulnerability, allowing the reader to dive in and feel what we experienced on the rollercoaster ride of addiction.Nine-year-old Gracie Parker lost her mother to a drug-related incident when she was six months old and then was adopted by her grandparents. Her father suffers from substance use disorder and is not present in her life. To turn her tragic situation into a positive one, she hosts mental health rallies in North Carolina and fights to keep trauma counselors in schools. She founded a nonprofit organization, Why Us Kids, to raise awareness of the youth mental health crisis in our country.Substance abuse does not discriminate. It affects every aspect of a person’s life. The disease spreads like a virus, infecting everybody closest to it, but people need to know that there is hope. People have overcome the disease. The more we discuss this critical issue, the less ashamed people will feel in seeking professional treatment. We must continue to break the stigma and offer more resources, so people know where to turn to for help.
Why Us Kids
