We were lucky to catch up with Constance Scharff, PhD recently and have shared our conversation below.

Constance, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

One of the most difficult things for a person to do is the work to heal from addiction, trauma, or other mental health issues. It can be absolutely debilitating and truthfully, excruciating to feel the feelings and move them through your body. It also means looking at who you are in the deepest parts of yourself, and changing the story you tell yourself about yourself. I understand why many people don’t want to do it.

Yet, for me, engaging in that healing process has completely changed my life in magnificent ways I never imagined were possible. Thirty years ago, I was drinking 2 liters or more of hard liquor a day. I was overwhelmed by trauma symptoms. I was angry, hurt, and frankly dying. Now, with a great deal of help and support, I am free from those problems. Yesterday, I celebrated 26 years of recovery from addiction and have had no trauma symptoms at all for more than three years.

Because I was able to heal from addiction and trauma, I became able to live my dreams. Atop that list of aspirations was to be a writer. Not only have my nonfiction and poetry books won numerous awards, but I released my debut novel a few months ago–which was the fulfillment of the vision I had for myself as a little girl. I also founded and serve as principal investigator for the Institute for Complementary and Indigenous Mental Health Research. I investigate complementary practices to improve mental health and wellbeing worldwide. My work takes me on expeditions to some of the most remote communities in the world, where I get to learn from people who have very different perspectives on life. Exploring my mental health obstacles has not only changed my life experience, but given me the opportunity to help others change theirs.

Constance, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Early in my recovery from addiction and trauma, I looked around in the mutual aid meetings I attended and saw loads of veterans. It was 2003-2005, when our veterans were starting to come back from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I had been sober for several years at that point, but really struggled with trauma symptoms. Alcohol numbed my emotions and tamped down the symptoms I experienced from years of severe childhood sexual abuse. Sober, I suffered terrible trauma symptoms including: hypervigilance, flashbacks, body memories, dissociation, suicidal ideation, sleep disturbance, etc. As our veterans returned with similar symptoms, I noticed that for the most part, they weren’t getting sober. I was sober, but miserable. When a veteran I strongly related to killed himself, unable to deal with a medical discharge, overwhelming trauma, and inability to stop drinking because it was what most helped him with the trauma symptoms–I got angry. There had to be better treatment for all of us. I was in graduate school at the time. I completely changed my research focus to investigate complementary mental health practices to improve treatment outcomes for addiction and trauma.

That was 20 years ago. In that time, my research has found that there are excellent therapeutics available to improve addiction and trauma treatment outcomes. I have written two nonfiction books about some of these practices: “Ending Addiction for Good” and “Rock to Recovery: Music as a Catalyst for Human Transformation.” The first was an Amazon #1 bestseller and was published in two editions. The latter won several awards. The challenge is that while there is significant documentation about what works, insurance won’t pay for most of it, or limits to too few sessions to make much impact.

Despite that obstacle, I and others like me continue the research to improve treatment efficacy.

To that end, I founded the Institute for Complementary and Indigenous Mental Health Research. As principal investigator, I examine mental health practices to improve wellbeing. In my most recent investigation, from mid-2023 through May 1, 2024, I led a year-long, seven-nation investigation into “everyday bravery.” What is bravery and how does it manifest in “quieter” ways that we might not always recognize? I embarked on this project in the hope that by identifying examples of everyday bravery, we might better understand human resilience and why some of us are able to better face mental health challenges than others. This research will be presented in a popular press nonfiction book, probably in 2026. More about the research and my team is available on my website.

I publish in the popular press by choice. Because insurance doesn’t pay for or limits access to what I believe are some of the most impactful therapeutics to improve mental health, I believe it is critical to get that information directly into the public’s hands. Most of the public doesn’t have access to or read academic journals. I can’t in good conscience gatekeep information that can improve our collective mental health. I have had the opportunity to learn about and use a host of complementary therapies. Everyone deserves access to the same information I have, to find treatment for those they love.

As I traveled to speak and give workshops on mental health, I combined field work with my speaking engagements. It was on these trips that I saw individuals and populations exhibiting trauma symptoms related to climate change. In the last few years, I have shifted the focus of my research to include inquiries into the relationship between trauma and climate change, and the ways in which people in some of the most remote communities in the world are addressing these issues. On my expeditions, I am privileged to meet with people from indigenous groups who are using myriad methods to address climate change induced trauma. What’s interesting to me is that while the rituals and methods might look very different across groups and regions, the ideas behind the practices are remarkably similar. It is my privilege to share this information across groups and to serve as an interpreter for governments and non-governmental organizations, to help them understand the value of and uplift traditional and indigenous practices.

I am currently seeking grant funding and philanthropic support to advance this research. I also share my research–and talk about my expeditions–in keynote addresses and workshops. As climate change impacts become more pronounced, it will be imperative to address mental health in a concerted way, in addition to work to abate other effects of climate change and promote resilience.

I am also a writer. Along with my nonfiction books, I have written an award-winning poetry book, “Meeting God at Midnight” and a novel, “The Path to God’s Promise.” Both were released under my Hebrew name, Ahuva Batya. In my poetry and fiction, I explore our relationship with the divine, especially when faced with hardship. It’s easy to “love God” when everything is going our way. But what’s our relationship with spirit when we are harmed or ill or unable to grasp hold of our dreams? In “Meeting God at Midnight” I write about infertility, abuse, and recovery. It was perhaps the most difficult book I’ve written, and also one that will prove to be timeless.

“The Path to God’s Promise” is my most recent release. It examines the motivations for human action or inaction when faced with climate change. I chose to write a novel instead of nonfiction after watching the pushback against climate scientists as offering “fake news.” Instead of a study, I jumped into a fictional work because it allowed me to dive deep into the “what-ifs” of climate change. I also created a protagonist who is not only fairly average in her personality, but has also overcome addiction and trauma in her life. I wanted to explore how much change a “regular” person might accomplish and show that recovery is possible. These themes were not available to me in nonfiction.

In “The Path to God’s Promise,” Elinor Simentov, a Jewish woman of no renown, is asked by God to warn humankind of the coming disasters related to climate change. Will she accept the role of prophet and even if she does, is it too late to create radical change? As Elinor contemplates acting, she is shown fantastic and horrific potential pasts and futures. She’s also taken into her own past to help her heal and release the ideas she has about herself that limit her. I mean, if God believes that you’ve got the skills to be a prophet, why can’t you believe in yourself? Yet believing in ourselves is one of the most difficult things for someone recovering from mental health issues to do.

The most rewarding part of being a writer is interaction with readers. At a recent book signing, someone came up to me to thank me for writing “The Path to God’s Promise.” She said it encouraged her that someone as broken as Elinor could grow so much. That’s really what I hope for both my research and writing, to give people hope and point them in the direction of resources to heal and grow. We do recover and not only live, but can reach goals greater than we imagined were possible.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

After earning my PhD, I was recruited to work as Senior Addiction Research Fellow and Director of Addiction Research at the Cliffside Malibu addiction treatment center in Malibu, California. I was given carte blanche to do whatever work I wanted, so long as the information could be brought back to and used in the clinic. I developed a research agenda and spent five years traveling the world to collaborate with other researchers, practitioners, and traditional healers to learn about various complementary practices to improve outcomes in addiction and trauma treatment. The work was invigorating. I was invited to learn more about dozens of different practices. I brought that information back to Cliffside, and it was used in the clinic. We had some of the most impressive treatment outcomes in the industry.

When the company was prepared for sale, research was eliminated. It’s not recoupable to insurance. My work was simply an expense that a buyer, likely a major medical corporation, wouldn’t want to take on.

Undaunted, I formed my own research institute and fund my work myself. I consult, teach, and give interviews to share the latest information. I believe that the funding to expand the work will come. The best part is that I now can literally go anywhere in the world that I want to, pursue any research that I desire. I also have more time to devote to writing my books.

Anything “negative” that happens, any event that isn’t to my liking, I do my best to turn it around and see it as an opportunity. Being laid off from the rehab became the opportunity for me to build something new, better understand trauma related to climate change, and serve communities that need a bridge to resources and information they would not have otherwise.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

The stories we tell ourselves, our internal narratives, are the most critical indicator of whether we will succeed or fail with regard to anything we do. Whether you say you can or you can’t, you’re right. When someone with a substance use problem tells me they can’t recover, I don’t try to convince them of anything. I’m interested in exploring that story. Why not? Millions of people do recover, what makes you different? If we can pick apart the self-reinforcing, negative stories, we can change outcomes.

Repeat the stories that uplift you. Encourage others with your words and deeds. This reinforces the worldview that you are a success. When something doesn’t go your way, brush it off and move on. I sometimes spend dozens of hours writing grants and don’t get them. OK. Not everyone understands or values my work. But when they do, WOW! I put out the effort. The results are beyond my control.

I wanted to be a member of The Explorers Club. It’s “…an international organization dedicated to the advancement of field exploration and scientific inquiry.” I had seen information about the organization come up for years, but there are a lot of members who explore through SCUBA or mountaineering or going into space. I wasn’t sure they’d want a transdisciplinary scholar who looks at mental health, even if I regularly lead expeditions to learn from people in some of the most remote areas of the world. I told myself a story that they might not have a place for me. That was a self-defeating story. And it wasn’t true. I found the email address for my local chapter chair, and was warmly welcomed into the group. When I went to my first gathering, the members had so many questions about my research into mental health! If I had retained my story that they “probably aren’t interested in someone in my field,” I would have missed the opportunity to be part of a group I find very encouraging.

What stories do you have that keep you from reaching your personal or professional goals? Identify them and change them into narratives that encourage and uplift you.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.constancescharff.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drscharff/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dr.Scharff
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cscharff/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/DocScharff
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DocScharff

Image Credits

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