April Edwards is the CEO and Co-Founder of Peacefully Whole Recovery. As a person in recovery for 15 years, April Edwards has seen various sides of the SUD treatment network. A former Opiate and Meth addict, her journey has included several inpatient facilities, sober living homes, Medication for Opioid Use Disorder, the family court system, jail, various forms of therapy, support groups, spirituality and the pursuit of Health and Wellness.
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April has earned her fair share of life experience. In 2008, a year after graduating high school, April was kidnapped by seven men and narrowly escaped with her life. Five men were caught and convicted. This event catapulted her into a vicious cycle of drug abuse to cope with the memory, while living in a foggy haze of trauma. Eventually, April was misdiagnosed as having Bipolar Disorder, ADD and Borderline Personality Disorder and was heavily medicated for over a decade, until she ran into a therapist who recognized that what she had was untreated post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These conditions share very similar symptoms including the inability to focus, rage, self-destructive habits, impulsivity, isolation, depression, and drug and alcohol abuse. The therapist took April through Prolonged Exposure Therapy, a specific form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy that revisits a traumatic event through imaginal and in vivo exposure to lessen the anxiety around that memory and the associated triggers. By the end of the therapy, she was clinically undiagnosable as having PTSD and was able to successfully come off of several medications.
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That step took April down a path of health and wellness to support her recovery, as she realized the benefit of having a regulated nervous system, exercise for the natural release of endorphins and neurotransmitters, a diet that limits processed foods and sugar, an investment in gut health and proper supplementation, and Biohacking methods such as cold water therapy, PEMF and Red Light Therapy. In 2024, April began “Peacefully Whole Recovery” with Callie Byrd, a nonprofit that aims to support Kentuckians struggling with substance abuse by offering holistic health and wellness services so they can feel their best in recovery, however they choose to recover. April has pledged to use her experience to help others struggling with substance abuse and trauma. She’s also a mother to two sons, a record producer, songwriter and audio engineer, owner of the Rock record label Raven Records and is a partner of and engineer for DREAMLAND Entertainment.