About Santina Camilleri
My Story
Santina has been working in the field of addiction since 1998, facilitating both individual and group sessions. Over the years she has heard thousands of stories from people who struggle with various addictions, in various chapters of their life journey. Some of which she met in the counselling space, others on the streets, in mental health hospitals, prison and others in rehab. Santina managed various units at Caritas Malta from 1998 to 2021. In 2018 she then started her own private practice where she now sees people from all walks of life.
Santina has a degree in Youth and Community Work where she focused on parents with a history of drug addiction, she also explored in depth the complexities of the criminal career. She then continued her studies and achieved a Master in Counselling where she focused on drug addiction from an attachment perspective.
Over the years Santina reflected on quite a few observations while working in the addiction field.
1. Many of us have addictions beyond illicit drugs that we fail to see. Of course the most prominent addiction is illicit drugs, but there are many more that people choose to remain oblivious to. Just to mention a few, prescribed medications, food, porn, ‘love’, sex, thoughts, media, money, power, work, greed, consumerism and relationships. Most addicted people in fact do not use illicit drugs at all. Unless we broaden our vision and remain oblivious that addiction merely means gambling or/and substances, we will never truly understand addiction. The question is not what are you addicted to, but rather what, in the short term does your addiction relieve you from?
2. There is an enormous quench for authenticity, for connection, for happiness. Why would a human suppress all sorts of emotions, the very element that makes us human? How can we function and find happiness and comfort with no feelings? What is left in a human being if we remove our feelings and emotions? Why so much discomfort and pain that medicating ourselves comes to make sense? Why does it scare us to stand still for a moment in time, to be alone with ourselves?
This journey took her into a deep curiosity of all the accumulated buried traumas experienced but never addressed. How can a person function, let alone be happy from such a fragmented self in such a fragmented world?
We are now more than ever living in a society that leaves no space to be fully human, to feel, no safe space to be yourself and not be judged. We are marinated in judgement and criticism, so much so we sometimes end up being our very own critic, our very own enemy.
Every one is busy with their lives. Steve Taylor , (lecturer, researcher in psychology, author of many books on psychology and spirituality) argues that we are all mad, as we all live with immersing out attention on external things, we complain about the busyness in our lives, emails, texts, back to back meetings as though they would eliminate them if they could. The truth is that most of the time we crave to be distracted and gladly embrace these interruptions. This can leave no space to be fully human and truly connected with ourselves, others and the world.
On the other hand we crave connection, happiness, peace of mind, a sense of safety, a sense of belonging. At times we come to realize that we have moved too far from our authentic self in order to fit in. Unaware, we have given up parts of ourselves in exchange for love, a sense of belonging, validation, money, praise and affection. Our health, physically, spiritually and mentally then starts to slowly deteriorate, and finally our meaning in life slowly starts to fade away.
Her main areas of interest today go beyond addiction as we understand it , where she works with a person’s relationship with the self, then with others, then in the world. An inner journey. The work is truly from the inside out.
At the end of the day everyone deserves a life worth living. This might be a good time to wake up and realign yourself, get to know who you really are and learn how to nourish yourself with whatever it is that makes your life more meaningful, till eventually it feels like a breath of fresh air to your soul.
After all, every human being deserves a life worth living.