Meet Kristine Szabo | Model & Life Coach Specializing in Suicide Trauma Recovery

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kristine Szabo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kristine, what matters most to you?
The principal that matters the most to me is having the ability to find gratitude and a positive meaning and even reason behind everything that is in and happens to one’s life experiences. When I was ten years old my father committed suicide and it left me with a childhood and then adulthood struggle with mental illness due to the impact of this trauma and the consequences that unfold as a result of feeling abandoned and unworthy as a young child that age. For decades I suffered from depression, eating disorders and reckless behaviors. It wasn’t until after my own survival from my own suicide attempt at 36 years old despite a lifetime of seeking how to better oneself through means of spirituality, psychology, psychiatry and nutrition. A journey that took me around the world studying and working under the best masters, teachers, doctors and leaders in self development today. With that said, my “ah ha moment” was when I received two spect imaging brain scans from Dr. Daniel G. Amen’s clinic, that gifted me a “map” of my brain functioning and showed me that I was suffering from prolonged Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and the Amen Clinic gave me the practical tools in diet, supplements, mindset training and lifestyle changes that I needed to heal myself once and for all. Over the next decade I lived vigorously for this recovery putting together the pieces of all I had learned through the past decades of seeking yet finally now being able to apply them with the support of all the other modalities to support this process of self-transformational healing. Slowly but surely, day after day, I started to become a new person… and yet the tool that impacted me the most was finally gaining the mental health to be able to actively change my mindset minute to minute from worry to wonder… from fear to bravery… from pessimism to optimism … from rumination to total gratitude and peace. At first this took effort to constantly catch my thoughts and change them to those that served me better, but over time I started to awake and experince my day in an automatic state of gratitude and joy and even find the ability to be thankful for the more challenging moments of my days. This act, of having gratitude, is what I believe is the key to not only living a life for oneself better, in fact freeing, but it has the ability to transform the lives of everyone one interacts with and beyond as we are all connected in vibrations and our collective source energy that holds us as One. And to end this story, I returned to the Amen Clinics just a few years ago, over a decade after my attempt, and the results were profound…. I had completely healed my brain. I no longer had PTSD, depression, anxiety and low blood flow & hyper brain waves activity that caused these ailments… I was healed. My work and devotion paid off and I was finally healthy, happy and at peace. Being in control of one’s mindset is the key to life. And I believe that key starts with gratitude and the desire to want to be grateful.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Most people would recognize me from my three decades long career as a globally recognized model seen on the covers and in pages of top magazines such as Vogue, ELLE and Glamour. I have had the amazing opportunity to work with some of the best international directors and photographers in the business and have appeared in countless advertising campaigns, TV commercial and have held contracts with leading fashion and beauty giants such as Nivea, Eddie Bauer and Perricone M.D.. The most remarkable is the continued success of my career even today at 48 years old where I continue to enjoy shooting with prestigious brands honoring the passion for my career that has taken me around the world and gifted me opportunities I would never have imagined possible, including the financial abundance to have healed myself from childhood trauma. But despite the struggles I carried internally for much of my career, I believe my career soared because of my ability to perform which was trained upon me during my childhood where I was raised in a ballet and modern dance company which also toured internationally and allowed me to start to have an understanding of the world outside of where I was raised, Los Angeles. Additionally, I have always had a passion for physical health which kept trained for a career which you don’t only have to look beautiful in clothes and for cosmetics and skincare, but you need to have the grace and endurance to do so after traveling between airports, hotels and sometimes with lack of proper sleep in between. In a nutshell, my work ethic is badass and I am born the Chinese year of the OX which surely demonstrates itself in how I have carried myself these past thirty years. But lastly, what was once told to my old agent to handled my contact with the German beauty company, Nivea, was that I have an un intimidating approachable beauty that allows other woman to identify with me … and with that… allows them to see themselves as me and me as them. I couldn’t have received a greater compliment for as I have learned in my years of spiritual study “I am who you are and you are who I am”!!!
Therefore, this career that I have as a model, albeit selling things material as fashion and cosmetics, is what I believe is to be my golden ticket to having the capability to reach people in my new passion and purpose, suicide trauma recovery. And as I begin this new venture of public and podcast speaking, filming for my new YouTube channel, Kristine Szabo Raw, sharing posts through Instagram and beginning to write my story in a book, I realize that most of the people that I meet today can learn from my experiences and teachings, even if suicide has not directly impacted their lives. I created a formula for wellbeing that is unique and universal and I thank companies like “Shout Out” for being here for people like me to help lay the bridge from those in need to those to can help them receive.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love this question because I just hosted the man of my life for the first time in Malibu, California, as he lives between Monaco and France and had never spent time with me in my hometown. Fundamental for me is to share my love of the ocean, the mountains and get a feel for the best that Mother Nature has to offer where I come from. With that comes long beach walks with my three dogs and motorcycle rides through the Santa Monica mountains up to Santa Barbara stopping to eat in spots that I love such as San Ysidro Ranch and El Encanto Hotel in SB to Malibu Farm Cafe on the pier in Malibu. I also love to spend time at home with good music, drinks, food and conversation. Having lived a career in restaurants and hotels… of course today home is where I can’t help but feel best.
But I’m not a bore neither… a trip to an art gallery, museum, concert (especially the Hollywood Bowl), drinks & dinner out at places like Elephante or the Proper & Shutters Hotels in Santa Monica are all up my alley of a great time!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
WOW tough question because there are so many people who have guided me to become who I am today. But one person that continues to stand out in my life is my greatest spiritual teacher, mentor, friend and “godfather”, Guru Singh, of Kundalini University.

Website: www.KristineSzabo.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/kristineszabo/

Youtube: https://bit.ly/kristineszaboraw