Kristy Robinson

My success comes from hitting my lowest point and making a decision to change. My oldest sister had cancer, and we knew we were going to lose her. I had just gotten divorced and was going through some stuff, and it occurred to me that if I don't get myself under control and quit drinking and become a better version of me, my parents are going to have 2 sick kids, and there's only 3 of us. At some point in time, it just occurred to me that my parents don't deserve to lose her and then have their youngest daughter that just can't get her squirrels in a circle. You're not supposed to lose a kid, it goes against the laws of nature. I just thought, what a selfish jerk am I, just to keep indulging, and I'm not doing anything, I'm not accomplishing anything. Since I've been sober, I've gotten a master's degree, I got a scholarship just for sober people, and they're helping me get a doctorate. I was never gonna amount to much of anything, I was just gonna be a drunk. That was one of the insane decisions that I'd made as an alcoholic. Not drinking anymore, I don't ever have thoughts like that anymore. You have to have so much courage and just a little tiny bit of insanity to just lean into exactly what you want to do. I never could have done that as an alcoholic.

There's such a stigma with alcoholism and addiction, and so many people are very quietly in recovery. I've spoken to so many clients that are just like, I'm really grateful that you told me that you're sober too, because then I just don't feel like you're some textbook-educated person just pulling off stuff. I think it's beneficial because I don't have anything to hide. I get to go to work every single day and be my authentic self. I have often wondered, what if people had the choice to be educated by individuals with lived experience or education only? In the addiction world, if there were entire treatment centers full of individuals who were also in recovery, I couldn't talk trash to them. Unfortunately, there are more circumstances where, based on an ethical code, if you are a licensed clinician, a lot of the ethical codes say that you cannot self-disclose to a client. How backwards is that? I know clients who have said, I need a different therapist because every time the Chiefs play on Sunday, my therapist calls in on Monday, and I know it's because they're hungover. And that makes me mad. They stalk your Facebook page and follow you on Instagram because they know that you were at Party Cove over the weekend doing a thing. They don't want to listen to you talk about your crazy, insane drinking problem. What a hypocrite.

My favorite thing to talk about is hope. I don't think people ever consider hope as a treatment modality, but I think it should be. I just love humans, and I just kind of always am one of those people that fights for the underdog. I'm very much a 'go ahead and challenge me, just so I can prove you wrong' type person. I can only be as good to my clients as I am to myself. If I'm working a good program and I'm going to meetings and I'm telling the truth and calling myself out on my junk, I can't be a hypocrite and go to work and tell a bunch of my clients, hey, you oughta do this, if I can't do it myself. I think the coolest part is helping folks who feel like Swiss cheese fill in those little holes so that they can feel like a whole person. I get to go watch somebody develop a brand new life they didn't even know existed. Recovery gives you the opportunity to explore things you didn't ever know to want for yourself.