Exposing and Embracing Addiction: How to Overcome Secrecy and Shame and Live with Freedom and Self-Love

I have had the privilege of being interviewed for an online speaker’s series with 20 other respected leaders in the addiction field on the subject of shame and addiction. It is no cost to anyone who would like to join and listen to the interviews.

Learn how to heal shame, when you join me and 20 experts in the field of addiction and recovery beginning February 26, 2018, for “Exposing and Embracing Addiction” a complimentary interview series hosted by my friend Beth Osmer—recovering addict and alcoholic, hypnotherapist, and Shamanic practitioner.

Shame is the universal haunting of the addicted mind. Beginning with a core belief that we are deeply flawed and imperfect.  Shame is the most unbearable of all human emotions and I have watched people drink themselves to death in a desperate attempt to escape the suffering of shame. Finding the feeling nearly impossible to bear, it propels addicts and alcoholics to drink and use in order medicate the burning self-hatred deep within. The drinking and using will create consequences, which only proves our deepest fear, that we are unworthy, and in turn creates more shame. It is a regenerating cycle and will lead to a very dark and hopeless state of being. The shame spiral can be a lifelong and progressive cycle.

I believe that alcoholics and addicts die of shame and secrets and healing the shame is the most effective treatment and medicine for the disease of addiction.

We are not born with shame. It is accumulated through a life time. The process of healing and recovery is not a journey toward something or somewhere but a return back to the beginning where we are shameless and free. Once we heal those deep wounds, life becomes a playground, where the possibilities are endless. We can love, laugh, play, fail and face life, head up and chest forward, without defining ourselves by the sand castles we build. In a shameless life, there are no successes or failures, only experiences, where we learn, grow and change.

If you no longer had to define yourself by the shame that haunts you, how would you author the rest of your life? Who would you be? What would you do? And how would you live this one life we have been granted?

Please join me and reserve your spot at no cost: https://goo.gl/TcsCSW

When you go to the link above and join us for this powerful series of conversations with addiction experts, you’ll get practical advice, tools, and strategies to stop healing shame.
Specifically, you'll learn:

• How to have compassion for yourself.
• How a person may unintentionally perpetuate the “Secrecy and Shame Spiral”.
• How addiction and self-love are intimately connected, and strategies for working on.
• How you feel about yourself.
• How to find the courage to reach out for help.
• A variety of specific strategies and tools for recovery, ranging from the Law of Attraction to the 12-Step Process to mindfulness practices, hypnotherapy, etc., so you can utilize the ones that most resonate with you.

Join me for “Exposing and Embracing,” starting February 26, 2018. https://goo.gl/TcsCSW

Sober and Shameless,
Kristina Wandzilak

"Intervention" A Misunderstood Process

I have spent the last 22 years practicing intervention all over the world and have met some of the most extra-ordinary families. The love and acceptance, I am greeted with on the door steps of strangers, continues to humble me, decades later. Connected by addiction and the fierce fight for the ones they most, we partner together and go to war against the disease. I have witnessed the greatest acts of blind faith by the families who have trusted me enough to open their homes and lives. Holding their breath, standing on the edge of their greatest fears, they offer their loved ones into my care. Even after all these years, it is a reasonability I accept with the greatest sense of humility. Having worked with hundreds of families and thousands of addicts, when asked about their most painful consequence of addiction, the most common answer is the effect on their family. The deepest regrets and shame of addiction can be traced directly back to the loss of family and the distant memories of laughter, home and love. Addiction is a disease propelled by shame and secrets, and is a breeding ground for the most unbearable feelings. As families gather, sitting around dining tables, bittersweet feelings and brutal realities and the truth of family addiction becomes undeniable.

Intervention is a misunderstood process. The word will often conjure up frightening feelings, resulting in families postponing the call for help. Trying desperately to control and contain the disease, families suffer from many lost and unhappy years. Crippled with feelings of helplessness, despair, self-doubt, fear and misguided loyalty, families will delay asking for help. Sometimes, waiting too long. Addiction is a fatal disease and it takes countless of lives every day. Some of the brightest and most sensitive people, I have ever known, are extinguished from the planet, far too soon.

Intervention is a highly respectful, honest, and often the greatest gift of love, a family can offer. I know this, that deep inside, hidden in the soft under belly of addicts, there is a primal desire to survive and live. The act of intervention is accessing the piece, of the person, that wants help: the part that remembers the authentic self and where the flame of hope flickers. I know that addicts do want recovery, but are lost in the darkness of the disease and need the way out to be illuminated. Desperate for guidance and connection, the addicted will follow when lead by a caring, knowledgeable, safe professional.

Recovery begins when the path to safety is shining brightly and the doors of safe refuge are held wide open. Full Circle Intervention will guide your family home.

Sober and shameless, Kw

Good Morning America

My mom and I have been invited to New York by Good Morning America to do a live-in studio interview this Thursday February 8.

We will be interviewed about our experience as an addicted family, family recovery and our
book The Lost Years: Surviving a mother and daughter’s worst nightmare. It continues to
humble me that our book and story has touched so many lives. 25 years ago, my mom, after trying everything to save me, finally made the decision to let me go. I’ll never forget the day, I showed up at her door, after once again, disappearing through the window in my bedroom, not to be heard from for weeks, saying “you are no longer allowed in my home or life until you are living a life of recovery and if I never see you alive again, I want you to know how much I love you” And she closed the door.

I wish I could say I got sober that day but it wasn’t until 3 long years later, beaten, hungry and cold, laying on the floor of a homeless shelter, that I became motivated to change. Our healing took years and writing our book was a cathartic experience and healed deep wounds in both of us. I have had the great privilege of traveling the country with my mom sharing our story to countless of families who are inspired by her strength and recovery. I stand next to her on stages, large and small, and bare-witness to the power of her words as they fall upon the beautiful nameless faces that have come to hear her speak.

I believe, it is not the adversities that come our way that define us, but what we choose to do
with that adversity. Although, I cannot say I am happy that addiction infected my family, I can
say, I am very proud of what we have chosen to do with it and how we use our experience to
benefit others.

Thursday morning, in front of 8 million viewers, we will share our experience, healing and hope. One of the greatest gifts of my recovery is being next to my mom as she talks about her recovery and inspires countless of families, to love enough, to let go. My mom is the hero of my story and I am very proud to be her daughter

Sober and shameless, Kw
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Greg Loiacono and The Mother Hips

In Full Circle's continued effort to offer many different aspects of recovery, we had the great pleasure of hosting Greg Loiacono of The Mother Hips for a music therapy group. Greg is in long term recovery from addiction, a certified addictions counselor, and has traveled the world clean and sober sharing his music and inspiration to countless of fans and followers. As the founder of FC and a women with over 23 years sober, I have come to learn that there are many paths to enlightenment. Sobriety ultimately, is a journey of recovering the best pieces of ourselves and a returning home to the heart and living a truly authentic life. Music is a universal language and thread the binds every culture on every continent. I was moved to tears, watching Greg and our clients play music together, laughing, crying and absorbing the invigorating vibrations of music. I extend my deep gratitude for Greg's wisdom and experience, both in recovery and as a man who has spent his life inspiring a whole generation of people, through recovery and music. Sober and Shameless, Kw

A New Year and A New Website

Happy New Year 

2016 has come to a close and 2017 is upon us. With new resolutions and hopes for a bright year, we begin to walk forward into the visions created for ourselves. I continue to look forward to guiding and walking beside all the Full Circle clients and guests, as dreams become the new reality. Sobriety is a bittersweet journey of recovering all that was lost to the murderous disease of addiction and it is the greatest privilege to bare witness to the deep and profound changes that happen in early recovery. Thank you for trusting Full Circle to spark the light of clarity and ilumminate the way home. 

With the new year, Full Circle Addiction and Recovery Services has a new website. Please visit our site and call the office with any questions about our services. http://www.fullcirclerecoverycenter.net

The Full Circle Team wishes you a happy and blessed new year. 

Sober and Shameless,

Kristina Wandzilak, CAS, CIP

Founder and President 

Kristina Wandzilak's Intervention: Codependent is featured on A and E

Kristina's show Intervention:Codependent featuring her intervention work with addicted couples is currently airing Tuesday nights on A and E. Please check your local TV schedules for times. 

Full Circle Evening IOP opening early 2017

Full Circle is excited to announce we will be offering an evening IOP early 2017. The Full Circle team is a group of highly skilled, compassionate, and dedicated, certified and licensed professionals who provide cutting edge outpatient care. The opening date will be announced in the following weeks.

The Full Circle morning IOP is currently accepting new clients. 

New Offices are now Open

Our new beautiful offices of Full Circle Recovery Center are now open. In the heart of the San Fransisco Bay Area, we offer professional Intervention, intensive outpatient treatment, recovery care and a premier sober living community. I am very proud of the FC treatment team and the exceptional care we provide our clients. Welcome Home.

Discovery Fit & Health Airing Addicted Episodes from Season 1 & 2

To all of my devoted and dedicated fans of Addicted, i am excited to share that Discovery fit and health is airing a few of the episodes from season 1 and 2. Thank you again for all of your unwavering support of my work, my mission, and helping me share the message that Hope and Recovery are possible for of us who are Addicted. Sober and Shameless, kw /react-text

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