Recovery Through Connectedness

In addiction and recovery spaces, mental health professionals are increasingly called upon to decolonize their practices and shift toward more holistic, relational, and culturally grounded frameworks. Among these shifts, two concepts often come into opposition: toxic positivity and a positive psychology framework.

For mental health professionals committed to growth, especially in inclusive cross-cultural contexts, it is critical to understand this distinction. We can deepen our understanding of healing by fostering genuine connectedness rather than suppressing pain with forced optimism. This leads to a more connected, meaningful path to healing.

Understanding Toxic Positivity

Toxic positivity is the insistence on maintaining a happy, optimistic state, dismissing or invalidating genuine emotional experience, regardless of how dire or painful a situation may be. In recovery work, it often shows up as clichéd affirmations like “Just stay positive,” “Everything happens for a reason,” or “Good vibes only,” even when someone is grappling with trauma, grief, or systemic oppression.

While well-intentioned, this mindset can be deeply alienating for those navigating the raw, complex emotions of addiction, trauma, and recovery. It reinforces silence around pain, disconnects individuals from their emotional truth, and upholds colonial narratives that suppress vulnerability in favor of resilience.

We can deepen our understanding of healing by fostering genuine connectedness rather than suppressing pain with forced optimism.

Toxic positivity becomes a barrier to healing because it:

• Minimizes suffering
• Invalidates culturally-grounded emotional expression
• Obscures the root harms addiction, such as intergenerational trauma, systemic inequities, and cultural disconnection

In cross-cultural settings, toxic positivity can also become a form of emotional imperialism – imposing Western norms of emotional expression and healing on communities with different cultural logics.

Positive Psychology: A Different Lens

Unlike toxic positivity, positive psychology does not deny hardship. When used appropriately, it acknowledges suffering while helping individuals cultivate strengths, hope, and resilience. At its core, positive psychology asks: How can we support people to flourish, not just survive? It seeks to understand and cultivate the factors that allow individuals and communities to thrive despite adversity.

This strengths-based approach aligns with many Indigenous cultural values, including the emphasis on balance, relationality, and community. However, it must be applied with cultural humility and awareness, as one pathway among many.

Founded by Martin Seligman and others, a positive psychology approach emphasizes:

• Strengths and virtues
• Meaning and purpose
• Resilience and well-being
• Engagement and connectedness

Positive psychology encourages integration rather than avoidance: Pain and joy, grief and gratitude, struggle and strength, are all part of the human experience. It fosters a sense of agency and honours the whole person.

For mental health professionals working with culturally-diverse populations, positive psychology can act as a bridge to traditional knowledge systems, many of which already centre wholeness and harmony.

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Connectedness as the Foundation

Western models of mental health often prioritize individualism, symptom reduction, and clinical detachment. They may disregard the relational and historical context of addiction. Through a two-eyed seeing lens, professionals are invited to unlearn some of the rigidity of these frameworks and replace them with practices rooted in respect, reciprocity, and relational accountability. Healing is not about denying pain – it’s about holding it with care, honour, and community.

This means:

• Moving away from “fixing” individuals and toward supporting holistic healing
• Recognizing the impact of intergenerational trauma and systemic barrier.
• Using language that reflects hope, dignity, and strength, not just deficits
• Ensuring services are accessible, culturally safe, and community-driven

A positive psychology approach that is grounded in connectedness allows us to shift from a dismissive “good vibes only” mindset to one of authentic, intrinsic empowerment.

Try Changing Questions

Instead of encouraging someone to focus on the positive, we might ask:

What gives you strength? Who are your people? What stories guide you?

Instead of moving on from pain, we might explore:

How can pain be a doorway to learning?

A Call to Mental Health Professionals

Mental health professionals play a critical role in either perpetuating or disrupting systems of harm. By understanding the difference between toxic positivity and a positive psychology approach, practitioners can create space for real emotions, real pain, and real healing. When guided by interconnectedness, we recognize that recovery is not linear, and that hope cannot be imposed – it must be rooted through relationship. As professionals, we are not the experts in someone else’s healing – we are companions on the path.

When guided by interconnectedness, we recognize that recovery is not linear, and that hope cannot be imposed – it must be rooted through relationship.

6 Practical Strategies for Professionals

Here are some tips to integrate a decolonized, culturally-grounded positive psychology approach in addiction and recovery work:

1. Reframe Strength

Recognize and validate resilience not as stoic silence but as the ability to keep showing up for healing, even in pain.

• Practice Cultural Humility

Acknowledge the limitations of Western models and remain open to learning from the people and cultures you walk with.

• Use Narrative Approaches

Invite clients to share stories of their ancestors, community heroes, and their own moments of courage.

• Foster Belonging

Incorporate practices that build connection such as circles, community gardening, drumming, mindful walks, and expressive art therapy

• Honour Ceremony and Ritual

When appropriate and guided by community protocols, support participation in culturally meaningful practices, such as learning smudging teachings

• Collaborate With Cultural Leaders

Work in partnership with Elders and knowledge keepers who can guide the integration of cultural teachings into recovery work.

Conclusion

The distinction between toxic positivity and positive psychology is more than a matter of language – it represents a powerful shift in how we approach healing. In addiction recovery (particularly within culturally diverse communities), the way forward is not through superficial optimism but through honest, compassionate, and culturally-grounded connection.

When we walk alongside communities with humility, open hearts, and mutual respect, we honour the wisdom that has always been present.

By letting go of colonial narratives and embracing relational frameworks of care, mental health professionals can help cultivate spaces of deeper recovery of self. When we walk alongside communities with humility, open hearts, and mutual respect, we honour the wisdom that has always been present.

This is the foundation of true healing – one that is rooted in belonging, balance, and relationship – a shared path toward The Good Life  for all.