I grew up being told that words couldn't hurt me. I grew up proving that they do, psychologically, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. The loss of my brother — on the night of my eighteenth birthday party — became the defining wound of my life, and ultimately, the defining purpose of it. He took a piece of my light with him. This book is what I did with the dark. Words Can Heal or Destroy is my debut — part memoir, part self-help, part spiritual reckoning. It bridges faith, physics, psychology, and personal testimony to show readers not just that words matter, but why they matter and what to do about it. It was written for every person who was told their pain wasn't real. For every child who learned to hide their tears. For every adult still carrying the weight of something someone said twenty years ago. I am also the author of Scott, a deeply personal memoir about my brother, written with the kind of love that only grief and gratitude together can produce. I am also the author of Break It — written while still in the middle of the battle, for every warrior who loses the one inside their own head.