Recovering from Everything. Such is the name of Saugeen Shores’ resident, Kinga Jakab’s practice as a recovery/life coach as well as her popular podcast. Aptly named to address “everyone who’s ever had anything happen to them ever” as she puts it.
Everybody needs to recover from something. I think most, if not all, people can relate to that. Recovery is a term generally used to describe someone in the process of battling or overcoming an addiction. Often associated with substance abuse, it can also refer to any number of other addictive behaviours that get a grasp on someone’s life that can leave them vulnerable or susceptible to self-sabotage. People tend to make things much harder on themselves than they need to be.
Herself being over 11.5 years sober from drugs and alcohol, Kinga tells me “as things continue to unfold, I find myself recovering sometimes from an off-handed comment someone made to me last week, or I feel hurt by something and I don’t quite have the best coping skills to have a confrontation where my heart isn’t beating out of my chest.”
She can help you identify and realize goals that may ease the burden regardless of what stage of recovery you may be in.
The road Kinga took to arrive at where she is presently as a recovery coach/podcaster wasn’t entirely direct. With a background in social work, addictions counselling, and various other professions in conjunction with her very own struggles with substance abuse, it seemed a natural progression to create a business designed to help others with battles she had already fought and knew how to navigate.
Now admirably almost a dozen years sober and doing something she truly has a passion for, Kinga has been able to refine her practice and ultimately bring her back to her “alma mater” – alcoholism.
In the past, she’s had a broader umbrella of how she defined her business, but in recent years, she has niched it down to working with mostly women (though she does occasionally work with men in a relationship focused or co-dependent capacity instead of substance abuse).
As an astute believer and follower of 12 step programs, she also understands that what has worked well for her does not necessarily work for everyone. “Counting days, months, and years whilst comparing yourself to others in the programs can be very stressful and difficult for some,” she says.
Though she is very public and open about what strategies she has implemented (abstinence based 12 step programs specifically), she insists on catering the recovery experience based on each individual’s unique situation. When someone unwillingly receives the gift of desperation, abstinence is often necessary and even required in order to save their life. That being said, Kinga does understand that harm reduction can be very effective for some people. Having the ability to assist someone struggling with daily or binge drinking and teaching them ways to decrease the amount and frequency to a level that is manageable for them can be as valuable to some as abstinence is to others.
Because Kinga’s client-focused approach varies with each client’s individual needs and goals, perhaps that is what people find so attractive about her business model. She believes it works because “there’s always something you can evolve or adjust or transform; there’s no deadline. You don’t have to be a certain way by a certain time,” she says.
Even though they share the same name, the business practice and the podcast are two separate entities. The podcast seems to have been born out of a need for an emotional outlet, a “public diary” so to speak. Kinga started the podcast without necessarily considering the full potential, reach, or extent of her audience but instead used it in a more cathartic sense. She confesses, “I had been hurt and needed to process but also wanted to do it in a public way.”
“People who help, also need help”
In essence, her listeners are helping her deal with her own problems as she is helping them with theirs. After all, nobody is exempt from needing to feel heard. People who help also need help.
As the podcast gains listeners and popularity, Kinga invites anyone that is curious about what it is that she does and how she may be able to assist you on your recovery journey to tune in and listen to a couple episodes and check out her comprehensive website (recoveringfromeverything.com). If what you see and hear resonates with you, I encourage you to reach out to her.
I have heard it said that rock bottom can be a trampoline. Now that’s quite a positive outlook on an otherwise dire situation but once one is able to start looking up instead of diving deeper into addiction, the transformation can begin.
Everyone needs help sometimes and who better to guide you than someone that understands the process, the cycle, and the hard work that it takes to manifest a better life for yourself without the shackles of addiction. You don’t even have to recover from EVERYTHING right away, but start recovering from SOMETHING that is paining you. Just take it one day at a time.
Written by Skye Wilkinson
Photos provided by Kinga Jakab
