Letters I Never Sent: Writing as a Tool for Healing in Recovery
Recovery sometimes starts with a conversation that we never had and sometimes putting down on paper the conversation that we never had is the beginning of freedom.
In A Life of Recovery: Breaking the Chains of Addiction, Woody Giessmann breaks his heart open to readers by telling the private tale of his brother Brian’s death and the profound sorrow that followed. But perhaps one of the most compelling moments in the book is a moment of quiet reflection: writing a letter to someone who is no longer present. That moment, both fragile and strong, brings forward one of recovery’s most underused tools writing.
Woody never wrote that letter. He never anticipated anyone would read it. But in the silence of writing it down, he opened something hidden deep within: pain, guilt, truth and the start of peace.
Why Writing Works in Recovery
For most in recovery, feelings are bottled, avoided, or numbed by chemicals. Writing provides an outlet for those feelings without fear of judgment. It has nothing to do with literary skill it has everything to do with truth. The empty page is a witness, a safe environment in which to speak the unspoken, to unload what the voice cannot yet endure.
Woody’s background as a licensed therapist and interventionist has proven to him the therapeutic power of expressive writing in one-on-one and group therapy. Whether journaling, writing letters, or creating song lyrics, writing performs multiple healing roles:
- It processes grief and trauma
- It alleviates emotional overwhelm
- It gives structure and clarity
- It assists in tracking progress and recognizing patterns
- It lends voice to the parts of ourselves that are still healing
During his own recovery, Woody relied on writing at times of utmost need following loss, while hospitalized, and even in working with clients. His musical and art training provided a natural release, but writing let him address inner truths in a manner that music alone was not able to.
The Letter to Brian
In the book, Woody writes an open letter to his dead brother Brian. It’s not for dramatic impact it’s because his therapist pushed him to confront the feelings he’d pushed away for decades. That one exercise enabled him to say the words he never had the opportunity to speak: “I’m sorry,” “I miss you,” “Why did you leave?”
Crafting the letter was not solely about Brian. It was about Woody confronting himself at last, his guilt, his fears, and the teenager he never did.
This sort of letter-writing, called “unsent letter therapy” in clinical settings, has been employed for years to assist individuals in dealing with loss, betrayal, regret, or unresolved relationships. Clients are asked to write to parents, children, friends, or even themselves past or future selves included.
Applying Writing as a Tool of Healing
Woody has a tendency to prompt his clients with the one simple question:
“What would I say if they were sitting in front of me?”
From there, the floodgates tend to open. Words that have been bottled up for years spill onto the page. A lot of people write letters they never realized they needed to write. Letters to the person who showed them substances. Letters to the child they left behind. Letters to the self they abandoned.
These exercises are not about blame. They’re about release.
Writing can’t alter the past. But it can reinterpret the narrative we construct and in recovery, that narrative is paramount.
Writing in Family Recovery
It’s not only the recovering person who is helped. Woody has witnessed families use writing to bridge painful divides between themselves and their loved ones. Parents write to children in recovery. Siblings write to describe the pain they’ve endured. And sometimes, the addict writes to the family he’s hurt.
These letters don’t have to be perfect. They should be real.
In family sessions, Woody frequently conducts letter readings where both parties exchange what they’ve written. Feelings are intense, but healing starts when somebody is finally heard and when somebody finally talks.
Writing for Professionals
As a career person in a high-stress profession, Woody also views writing as a self-care activity. Therapists, counselors, and interventionists are exposed to trauma on a daily basis. Reflective journaling keeps professionals in touch with their own feelings and protects against burnout. It provides distance between the clinician and the crisis, allowing room to breathe, reflect, and rejuvenate.
Woody’s own journal writings most of them during his recuperation from a burst brain aneurysm were emotional anchors. Those pages made sense of an ever-changing reality for him, moment by moment. Even when he was unable to speak fully or walk, he could still write. And that grounded him in his recuperation.
Begin with the Page
You don’t have to be a writer to utilize writing for your recovery. You simply have to be committed to being truthful.
These are some writing prompts Woody frequently suggests:
- Write a letter to someone you’ve lost.
- Write to your addiction as a human being.
- Write to your younger self.
- Write to someone who’s hurt you but never mail it.
- Write a goodbye letter to a part of yourself you’ve outgrown.
What you do with the letter is your choice. You may keep it, set fire to it, read it aloud, or leave it where it lies. But in writing it, you make room for healing, for truth, and for peace.
Woody Giessmann’s experience teaches us that healing isn’t a shout. It is more likely to occur in quiet spaces. In quiet moments. And sometimes, on the pages of a journal no one will ever hear.