Ray County, Mo. – Robert Cox has spent more than a decade counseling people through trauma and addiction, an expression of his life’s purpose. After 37 years in recovery himself, Cox is helping build a different kind of safety net in Ray County by treating addiction as the byproduct of trauma rather than a moral failure. His story includes experience in a private practice, personal challenges and loss, a local nonprofit, and now reentering public lectures meant to give families education in addiction and trauma.
Cox is a licensed professional counselor who has lived and worked in the community for more than a decade. He shared that recovery shaped his early adulthood, followed by years studying trauma and autism, eventually leading him to write “The Life Recovery Method: Autism Treatment from a Trauma Perspective.”
He said that in both autism and early trauma, he recognized similar neurological patterns. That insight would later inform the program he now helps run under Special Needs Services of Ray County, a longstanding disability-support organization.
The program, called Stabilization Support Services, began last year, where Cox serves as the Clinical Director. Its purpose is to meet people at the point where traditional systems tend to lose them, particularly those who are uninsured or recently released from incarceration.
SSS functions in 90-day cycles, accepting 15 adults at a time. The structure includes six weeks of individual counseling followed by six weeks of group therapy, supported by a resource specialist who works with participants on practical goals like transportation, employment, and basic stability at home. The program focuses on individuals managing co-occurring disorders, trauma histories, and substance use, and is designed to help progress toward independence and a sober, sustainable life.
On Monday evenings, Cox also runs psychoeducational groups inside the Ray County Jail, teaching about trauma’s impact on the brain. When someone is released, they can move directly into the 90-day program, where free mental health care, nursing checkups, behavior-goal support, relapse-prevention strategies, and help with daily needs are available at no cost.
“Our entire purpose is to fill the gaps in the mental health field,” Cox said.
To address a large local need, Special Needs Services launched a capital campaign for a new facility at 211 W. Franklin Street. The Goppert Foundation has pledged $250,000 toward the $1 million project, and the organization is working to raise the remaining funds for expanded meeting space, a teaching kitchen, and an enlarged boardroom already included in the architectural plans.
As the program has grown, Cox is returning to lecturing after a hiatus due to the loss of his son. On January 14 from 6-7:30 PM, he will deliver a public talk at the Good Samaritan Center of Excelsior Springs on trauma, addiction, and how families can provide support without losing their boundaries.
He shared that it is not a clinical seminar but an accessible education for families trying to understand behaviors that often seem senseless. He plans to take questions and offer resources, but the core goal is understanding: how trauma reshapes the brain, how people learn to cope with emotions they cannot hold, and how healing can begin when the brain is given new ways to organize those experiences.
Cox shared that one of the most important pieces of information covered is a clear definition of addiction that he uses, crediting physician and researcher Gabor Maté, with whom he completed postgraduate work. Maté defines addiction as “any human behavior that brings pleasure or temporary relief, but the consequences of that behavior outweigh the benefits, and [they] cannot stop.” Cox said the definition is most accurate because it covers both the human search for relief and the trap that relief can become, and extends its reach to other possible addictions.
“It covers workaholism, gambling, food, porn, alcohol, and drugs. All of it,” he said. “It’s a behavior used to numb emotions that feel unholdable, but the answer is costing more than it gives, and [they] can’t quit.”
Special Needs Services is continuing its capital campaign for the new building, and community members who want to learn about the project, their other services, or to directly support Stabilization Support Services can find information at snsrayco.org, where donation options, referrals for treatment, and future building details are listed.