Holistic Recovery:

A free 2-Part Community Series

Part 1: Transcending Addiction Through Integrative Trauma-Informed Practices

Part 2: Shame, Addiction, and Trauma: From Alienation to Connection

Sunday January 31st 1-3pm: Transcending Addiction Through Integrative Trauma-Informed Practices

Addiction affects, and is affected by, the whole person. Trauma, chronic stress, physical health, emotional well-being, relationships, and a sense of meaning can all play a role in recovery.

This seminar introduces a trauma-informed, integrative approach to understanding addiction that looks beyond the substance itself. We’ll explore practices that support the body, nervous system, mind, emotions, relationships, and overall well-being.

Participants will learn a simple framework for understanding the many approaches available today, from mindfulness and movement to nutrition, body-based practices, psychotherapy, and other complementary approaches. We’ll also take a clear-eyed look at what research supports, what remains uncertain, and how to think critically about popular ideas such as polyvagal theory.

The goal is to provide a practical framework for understanding recovery as a whole-person process, and resources for continuing to learn and explore.

Sunday February 28th 1-3pm: Shame, Addiction, and Trauma: From Alienation to Connection

Shame plays a powerful role in addiction and trauma, yet it is often misunderstood or overlooked. In this seminar, we’ll explore what shame is, how it shows up in recovery, and why attempts to “talk someone out of” shame often don’t work.

We’ll look at the difference between shame and guilt, the ways shame can develop, and how relationships, community, and a sense of belonging can help heal it. We’ll also explore how treatment approaches and everyday interactions can unintentionally deepen shame, and what helps instead.

Drawing from trauma-informed approaches, including Compassion Focused Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Internal Family Systems, EMDR, Motivational Interviewing, and somatic practices, this seminar offers practical ways to move from shame and isolation toward greater self-compassion, connection, and recovery.

Dr. Martin Lajoie, Psychologist, PsyD

Dr. Marty Lajoie, PsyD is the founder and director of Holistic Psychology Inc., an integrative mental health therapist group practice in Santa Rosa, CA. He has also worked for the past decade in psychological leadership at Duffy’s Napa Valley Treatment, an integrative treatment center for substance addictions in Calistoga. For several years, he helped develop and direct Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy programs at Be The Change in Mental Health and Window’s Health Clinic in Sonoma County. He earned his Masters and Doctorate in clinical psychology from California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, where he conducted dissertation research on integrative and psychedelic-assisted approaches to treating substance use disorders. He underwent post-doctoral training in Internal Family Systems (IFS), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Motivational Interviewing (MI), Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR), Brainspotting, and Nonviolent Communication (NVC), as well as certification in Integrative Mental Health and Neurodynamic Breathwork facilitation, and post-graduate certification training in psychedelic assisted therapies with the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) and Polaris Insight Center. Dr. Lajoie is also an instructor in the addiction counseling department at Santa Rosa Junior College, where he teaches several classes in the substance use disorder counseling department including neurophysiology and pharmacology of addiction, and mentors students entering the field. In the decade prior to psychology, Marty worked as a residential care counselor at the County of Sonoma’s child protective services shelter, and in the decade before that, he produced and performed at large-scale events in the San Francisco Bay Area electronic dance music scene. In his personal life, Marty has been a consistently active and contributing member of addiction recovery support communities since 2004 — an experience that, in particular, inspired him to further his education and become the psychologist he is today.