The CKU team

The sectret of the CKU is its multidisciplinary team, in which there are people having experience in working with addicts and co-addicts. All members of the therapists team are still raising their qualifications by having practice in Poland and Ireland.

Supervision connected with treatment in the CKU is held by Bohdan T.Woronowicz M.D.Ph.D.

Bohdan T.Woronowicz M.D.Ph.D. - b.woronowicz.dr-med.pl

Warsaw Academy of Medicine. Post-Diploma Study University of Warsaw. Specialties in Psychiatry, Sexual Dysfunction, Substance Abuse Therapy (certified by State Agency for Prevention of Alcohol Related Problems).

Co-Founder Foundation of Service Office of Alcoholics Anonymous in Poland (Fundacja Biuro Służby Krajowej Anonimowych Alkoholików w Polsce) and first Class A (Non-alcoholic) Trustee of Alcoholics Anonymous in Poland

President of Dependence-Independence Foundation (Fundacji Zależni-Nie-Zależni http://www.z-n-z.eu/)

Mariola Mastek
MA in Pedagogic Rehabilitation - a therapist, a qualified nurse - graduated in counselling and rehabilitation of addiction sufferers, specialised in working with addicted persons (Jagiellonian University)
CKU co-ordinator

Zuzanna Żelazny - www.psychologyhub.eu
MA of psychology - clinical specialisation (Silesian University), member of PSI(Psychological Society of Ireland)
Deputy Coordinator of CKU

Barbara Ożga
CKU admin co-ordinator

Bożena Jaślan
MA in Pedagogic Rehabilitation - specialised in working with addicted persons (Opole University)

Bartosz Bąk
MA in Pedagogic Rehabilitation with specialization of Social Worker(Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań).

Natalia Bienkowska
psychologist/psychodrama assistant; experience working within addiction treatment and eating disorder services in Ireland.

Patrycja Wasylina
Ma of Psychology Social Specialization - Warsaw School Sciences and Humanites, Faculty in Wrocław

Wioletta Dunajewska
A graduate of the University of Szczecin, Master of Economics in the field of Management Sciences.
Professional experience - as a specialist in personnel matters, staff development and training of employees.

Krzysztof Mastek
Consultant

Our mission

We want to provide a professional help and support for addicts, co-addicts and people from dysfunctional families who have problems with language barrier, addiction prevention.

How do we help:

• we organise therapeutic groups,
• we have individual consultations,
• we organise psychological workshops concerning personal development and therapeutic workshops concerning pro-social behaviour,
• we cooperate with different institutions, qualified specialists and organisations which provide proper help not only in Ireland but also in Poland.

Basic program of addiction therapy in the CKU in a ambulatory institution lasts about 1 year. Addiction to alcohol and to psychoactive substances is treated as a disease cinditioned by bio-psycho-social influences and basic methods for therapeutic actions are psychotherapy in group meetings, individual consultations and psychological workshops. This basic program includes structured series of exercises developing skills for understanding the disease, skills for recognising warning signals, preventing from coming back do drinking alcohol, avoiding return of the disease. The main emphasis is put on identification with the disease and on preparing patients for improving family, social and professional life etc.

Our aims

Recognition and acceptance of weaknesses for drinking alcohol and taking other psychoactive substances, recognition of the need to change and helping in changing the lifestyle through the 12 Steps Program for AA. People who decide to start treating alcohol addiction and addiction to other psychoactive substances should know that when they take part in the therapeutic program they can:

• gain extensive knowledge about:
  • the psychoactive substances and addiction symptoms,
  • the connection between abusing alcohol and its negative health, family, professional, material, legal consequences etc.,
  • the disorder of the thinking processes caused by abusing alcohol leading to drawing wrong conclusions making wrong decisions,
  • the false imagination of living with alcohol caused by the disorder of the thinking processes; such imagination leads to maintaining abusing alcohol despite its bad consequences,
  • the need to improve the the process of recovering, different damage caused by drinking too much alcohol,
  • the need to take responsibility for the process of recovering as a condition for the effectiveness of the program,
• verify the motives for starting the treatment consisting of:
  • showing the extrinsic motivation for giving up drinking (for a wife, for children, for a job etc.) and intrinsic motivation (for myself, for my own sake),
  • expanding the intrinsic motivation system,
• improve a sphere of emotional life by:
  • learning how to recognise, call and show own feelings,
  • gaining knowledge that some emotional states (e.g. shame, feelings of guilt, anger) exacerbate the feelings of guilt and may cause drinking alcohol,
  • awareness that weak emotional relations with relatives have bad influences on communications with other people and hinder the positive influence of relatives on addict functioning,
• improve a sphere of spiritual life by:
  • understanding what spirituality is and distinguishing it from its religiousness,
  • verification of own system of values,
  • raising awareness that unethical behaviour and harm made to others are connected with the disease,
  • obtaining hope and belief in recovering from the disease,
  • building a positive vision of oneself and of life without alcohol,
  • finding someone or something stronger than me i.e. my own force which will help me to stop the disease and will help me to recover and to support taking care of my health,
• verification of own behaviour by:
  • finding the connections between drinking alcohol and own behaviour,
  • raising awareness that some patterns of behaviour lead to abusing alcohol,
  • raising awareness that in order to stop drinking the modifications of some patternes of bahaviour and learning new patterns are needed,
• changing the types of behaviour control connected with drinkig alcohol from external control (famili, work) into self-control,
• improving social relations i.e.:
  • learning skills needed for understanding oneself and own functioning and for improving communications with other people,
  • changing of relations with people,
  • making new friendships with people who do not abuse alcohol in a destructive way,
  • learning skill for accepting help from other people while recovering especially from professionals and from sobering addicts,
  • gaining skills enabling recognising situations which lead to coming back to drinking.

At the same time people who decide for taking part in such a therapy will be able to improve their physical health by:

• a continuation of treatment of changes in somatic,
• recovery of physical fitness,
• learning how to lead a responsible lifestyle ( work, rest, proper nutrition).

The Minnesota Model

The therapeutic program is based on the Minnesota Model.

The main principles of the Minnesota Model are:

• regarding alcoholism as a disease which is different from other disorders or psychical diseases,
• regarding alcoholism as a primary disease(it isn`t a sign of other disorders because after their solving alcoholism won`t stop existing, it doesn`t result from any other disease bacause it is a disease in itself),
• regarding alcoholism as a chronic disease, deadly disease and what is very important- a faultless disease which appeared just because of many different conditions,
• regarding addicts with respect and understanding and respecting their personal dignity,
• an opinion that initial motivation doesn`t decide about the process and results of a treatment,
• trying to achieve the identification with the symptoms which at the same time may help addicts to understand the need of changing their lives,
• agreeing that one of the most important symptoms of the disease is a denial but existing of the disease is also denied by the surroundings,
• putting life abstinence from any psychoactive substances as the long-term objectives,
• systematic treatment including active participation in the therapeutic program for relatives,
• leading therapies in small groups in which each patient is regarded individually because he has an individual way of recovering from the disease and has own ways of avoiding coming back to drinking as well as ways of preventing coming back to drinking,
• using the secret of multidisciplinary team of therapists in which trained specialists derived from alcoholics or drug-addicts who has recovered thanks to AA or DA programs play a very important roles,
• using the 12 Steps Program and AA philosophy as well as systematic participation of people in AA group meetings.

The basic program of psychotherapy and treatment of addiction to alcohol or other psychoactive substances is supplemented by the treatment of other emotional disorders and trainings which help to solve private problems.

In this therapeutic program a big emphasis is put on the therapeutic help for the families.

• C0-addicts
• ACA (Adult Children Anonymous)