Overcoming Addiction: You Were Never Broken with Jason Shiers

Jason Shiers has been through it all when it comes to addiction.

From the tragic death of his father when he was just five years old to his heroin addiction by the age of 13, Jason’s life was filled with struggles that many people never experience.

However, after years of living in chaos and undergoing countless therapies, Jason realised that true healing didn’t come from fixing what was broken because, as he discovered, he was never broken in the first place.

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Early Struggles and Coping with Trauma

Jason’s childhood was affected by deep emotional pain.

Losing his father in a tragic accident left a hole in his life that he didn’t know how to fill.

As a young boy, he coped by turning to food, which gave him temporary comfort in a world that felt overwhelming.

By the time he was a teenager, Jason had escalated to more destructive behaviours, including theft and substance abuse.

His drug use quickly spiralled into a full-blown addiction to heroin.

Despite his struggles, Jason didn’t view drugs as the real problem. As he puts it, drugs were just a coping mechanism for the emotional turmoil he felt inside:

"Drugs were never the problem. They were a way to escape the pain I felt inside."

"Drugs were never the problem. They were a way to escape the pain I felt inside."

Jason Shiers

​The Journey through Treatment

Like many others dealing with addiction, Jason went through traditional rehab programs.

He went into treatment at the age of 23, thinking that detoxing from heroin would solve everything.

However, he soon realised that simply removing the drugs didn’t address the core issue: the emotional pain that was driving his addiction in the first place.

Jason spent years in therapy and he tried everything—EMDR, trauma therapy, cathartic release work, and countless other modalities. Despite all the work, he found himself still struggling internally, never quite finding the peace he was looking for.

After more years of therapy, 12-step programs, and even becoming a psychotherapist himself, Jason found that these approaches often perpetuated the idea that something was fundamentally wrong with him. He says:

"Therapy can sometimes reinforce the belief that you’re broken, that something inside you needs fixing. But the truth is, we’re not broken."

"Therapy can sometimes reinforce the belief that you’re broken, that something inside you needs fixing. But the truth is, we’re not broken."

Jason Shiers

A Radical Shift in Perspective

Jason’s breakthrough came when he realised that the root of his struggles wasn’t that he was broken but that he was stuck in a cycle of believing he needed to be fixed.

He attended a spiritual event that gave him the clarity he had been searching for. He describes this realisation as a moment when he saw the futility of constantly trying to fix himself:

"I woke up to the fact that I’d been trying to fix something that wasn’t broken. The idea that we’re broken is what keeps us stuck."

This shift in perspective was life-changing for Jason.

He saw that the coping mechanisms he had used—whether food, drugs, or other behaviours—were not signs of brokenness but rather intelligent responses to overwhelming pain.

He began to understand that the solution wasn’t about fixing himself but about seeing that he was already okay, just as he was.

"I woke up to the fact that I’d been trying to fix something that wasn’t broken. The idea that we’re broken is what keeps us stuck."

Jason Shiers

Moving Beyond the Traditional Approach

With this new understanding, Jason stopped attending traditional 12-step meetings after 22 years and moved away from his work as a psychotherapist.

He realised that much of his work had been reinforcing the very belief he no longer subscribed to—the idea that people are fundamentally broken and need fixing.

Now, Jason’s approach focuses on helping people see their own innate wisdom and resilience.

Rather than focusing on addiction as the problem, Jason helps people reconnect with themselves.

He explains that when individuals feel better about who they are, the behaviours that once served as coping mechanisms naturally fall away.

It’s not about focusing on stopping the behaviour but rather on rediscovering a sense of well-being from within:

"When you feel better, you stop doing the things that hurt you. It’s not about fixing the addiction. It’s about realizing you were never broken."

"When you feel better, you stop doing the things that hurt you. It’s not about fixing the addiction. It’s about realizing you were never broken."

Jason Shiers

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