"If someone had told me that from broken dreams on a sidewalk I would embark on a journey of exploration and learning that would lead me to help other families learn an entirely new way of approaching this disease, I wouldn't have imagined it....Yet, through my own journey, I believe that we have a choice to stay in crisis, struggling, just surviving, or develop our skills, learn new ones, so that we'll be able to say to ourselves at some point, "I got this."

Her life fallen apart after witnessing the arrest of her son for a crime he committed while in a drug-induced psychosis, KL Wells mobilized and moved beyond managing debilitating crisis to living and loving in a stronger, healthier way.

How many of us believe our lives have become only about surviving our loved ones' addiction day to day, feeling desperate to change what's happening, the heart-wrenching pain, the mind-numbing shock? How many of us have been overwhelmed by disbelief, denial, shame, guilt, pain, anger, depression, hopelessness, and resignation-felt all at once in an emotional torrent or in stages, draining us in bits and pieces?

How many of us find our lives hijacked by a disease we are ill-prepared to deal with?

Having lived through three generations of addiction in her family, KL Wells appears to have been training her entire life to gain the skills to experience her feelings, take care of herself build a community of people who can provide steady support, to explore her own beliefs, and learn everything she could about this disease and what we can do besides feeling frozen with helplessness or engaging in sure-to-fail efforts to control outcomes.

As mothers, fathers, spouses, sisters, brothers, grandparents, friends, aunts and uncles, we have been touched in some way by someone we love dealing with Substance Abuse Disorder. Many of us are unprepared to know what next steps we should take to guide us to thrive. KL believes that there are gifts and lessons to be discovered in the countless difficult moments we have faced with our addicted loved one, are facing, and will surely face in the future. This short but impactful book (56 illustrated, full-color pages) lights the way.

Taking the First Step...

Do you know what you need to take your first healing step on this journey of discovery and transformation? KL Wells invites you to begin with this book. The Five Acts of Courage: From Crisis to Thriving has been written with us in mind and is a reflection of her journey towards a life of healing, thriving, and hope--her wish for us, too.

5 Acts of Courage: From Crisis to Thriving presents the five important and necessary lessons KL learned for herself that can also help families and friends of addicted loved ones shift their own lives from reacting to the chaos and crisis inherent in life with an addict to a more life-affirming way of thinking, feeling and being-to thriving.