Family Addictus: A New Understanding of Addiction, Recovery, and the Stories That Shape Us

Addiction isn't a moral failing. It's an adaptation.

In Family Addictus, Joe Van Wie, co-founder of Fellowship House treatment center, reveals how addiction often begins long before the first drink in the first 1,000 days of life, where misattunement and early disconnection create the perfect conditions for substances to feel like missing pieces finally arriving.

Van Wie weaves together neuroscience, attachment theory, and years of clinical experience to show how addiction spreads through family systems like inherited code, how modern culture creates perfect conditions for disconnection, and why traditional approaches often miss the deeper story.

Drawing from the innovative Twelve CORES framework developed at Fellowship House, Van Wie shows how recovery goes beyond abstinence to become a complete rewiring of identity, purpose, and belonging. He explores the neurochemical loops that make substances feel like solutions rather than problems, and how healing happens not through willpower alone, but through connection, community, and reclaiming the pause between stimulus and response.

Recovery means returning to your body, your family, your community, and yourself. It means learning that you're not broken. You adapted. You survived. And now, you're ready to wake up.

Written for anyone touched by addiction (whether personally, professionally, or through someone they love), Family Addictus offers hope grounded in science and compassion rooted in understanding.

Joe Van Wie is a father, husband, filmmaker, speaker, and recovery advocate who brings both lived experience and clinical insight to his work in the addiction field. As co-founder and CEO of Fellowship House in Scranton, Pennsylvania, he has developed a comprehensive treatment program that serves individuals navigating substance use disorder through an innovative approach combining neuroscience, trauma-informed care, and family systems work.A person in long-term recovery himself, Van Wie understands addiction from the inside out. Before entering recovery, he spent over a decade in political strategy, advertising, and film production. His award-winning feature film, Forged, and his nationally recognized podcast AllBetter.fm reflect his passion for storytelling and creating spaces where difficult truths can be shared.Van Wie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from SUNY and has completed executive education in Artificial Intelligence and Leadership at MIT. He is currently completing his Master of Science in Social Work at Columbia University, where he continues exploring trauma, recovery, and systems change through both narrative and clinical lenses.As a writer and speaker, Van Wie's voice blends street-level insight with scholarly curiosity. He believes recovery is about participation rather than perfection, and that healing begins when we stop asking "What's wrong with you?" and start asking "What happened to you, and who's walking with you now?"Through Fellowship House, Van Wie has pioneered the Twelve CORES framework, which addresses not just sobriety but the complete rebuilding of identity, purpose, and belonging. The program integrates education, career development, creative expression, family repair, friendship building, health restoration, adventure, service, personal agency, ethical living, clinical expertise, and individual authenticity.Van Wie's approach to recovery extends beyond traditional treatment models. He views addiction as an adaptation to trauma and disconnection rather than a moral failing, and recovery as a form of spiritual awakening that happens through relationship and community.