Nicole Woodruff is a Tampa-based occupational therapist and yoga teacher who specializes in treating chronic pain and pelvic floor dysfunction. After losing her sister to an opioid overdose in 2019, Nicole dedicated her life to helping others find alternative ways to manage pain through her holistic occupational therapy practice.

Through her memoir, Nicole hopes to raise greater awareness around addiction and how it affects family systems, sharing her story to help destigmatize the way society views addiction and encourage others to speak out. She has also started two virtual support groups: Siblings of Addicts and Siblings of Addicts Who Have Passed Away. Learn more at nicolewoodruff.com

On June 13, 2019, Nicole Woodruff got the call she had been dreading for years. Her sister, Amanda, had suffered a fatal overdose.

Amanda had become addicted to heroin as a young woman. For five years, Nicole and her family struggled to help as Amanda cycled through the process of getting clean, starting to recover, and falling back into using.

Saving My Sister is a memoir about navigating addiction told through a sister’s love, sharing the fear, hope, disappointment, stress, frustration, and ultimate loss that all too often finally ends the cycle, leaving families wondering what else they could have done—or whether they did enough.

If you have experienced addiction firsthand, or if you love someone who has, Saving My Sister is a poignant reminder that addiction affects not just individuals but families, that you’re only human, that you’re all going to need help, and that you’re not alone.