Recovered Life Contributor

My Story

Recovery Coach, Certified Facilitator for SMART Recovery, Certified Trauma and Somatic Healing Expert, Producer of the “Last Call With Kristin” Podcast and Member of NADAAC.

I had to learn how to be a survivor from a very young age. The first time I was sexually
abused, I was 6. I learned early on the protective skills of people-pleasing and co-dependency.  Always seeking relationships in which I could be “saved” or “mended”, with a string of dysfunctional and heartbreaking abandonments to show for them, I turned to one thing that would never let me down or abandon me: Alcohol. Or so I believed. On Christmas Day, 2020, I mixed copious amounts of alcohol with 40 mg of Ambien as an attempt to numb my incessant pain. When I miraculously woke the next day, my teenage children tearfully begged me to get help so that they could have their mother back.

Held tightly in the grip of drug and alcohol addiction, experiencing suicidal ideations, and severe PTSD symptoms, I decided that it was in fact, time to ask for help. On 12/26/20, I ended my relationship with drugs and alcohol. I entered a dual-diagnosis rehabilitation program and really learned about PTSD, trauma, and addiction for the first time. Sure, I had been to therapy and studied addiction in college, and I just never applied what I had learned to myself.  Without alcohol being the gasoline on the fire of my depression and anxiety, I was ready to heal. Over the next two years, I made it my life’s work to learn and apply every healing modality that was available to me.

I began a daily yoga and meditation practice, I committed to a trauma-healing journey, and I picked up all of my broken pieces and decided to make the most gorgeous version of Kintsugi art with them, and that is what I have become. As I mended all of the broken pieces with gold and painstakingly placed them in a way that light could shine through the cracks, I was reclaiming my life as I unchained myself from addiction.

Today, I use what I learned during my Psychology studies on an ongoing basis to help my clients start their healing journeys. I have designed a proven framework called “Unchained and Reclaimed” that I offer to my clients through private coaching sessions to help them unchain from their addictions and to reclaim a life full of vibrancy, hope, and healing. I produce a podcast called “Last Call With Kristin,” where I provide a safe space to talk about addiction, recovery, and trauma without shame, blame, or stigma. My coaching strengths lie in supporting those with past trauma wounds who have turned to addiction to cope and survive. I teach my clients and my students how to safely self-soothe, ground, heal, and nurture their wounds, including modalities such as
yoga for embodiment, walking meditation and helping them to re-write the conversations that they have with themselves. At the end of our work together, my clients have designed a life that they no longer need to nor do they desire to escape from.