"I hold great compassion for myself and others who've struggled with this! Real talk: we used for a good reason! Originally there was a wisdom in it. It was an adaptive coping skill...just with unseen strings attached. Now we see the costs outweigh the usefulness. That old life-hack is outdated. Fortunately, these days, there are a diversity of new healthy ones available to us! The brilliant thing is they work not only to relieve our suffering, but help us thrive and live our best life! What a fortunate time to be in recovery!
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Integral tools to thrive beyond addiction.
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Dr. Martin Lajoie, PsyD
Founder / CEO
Founder / CEO
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Support Community
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A longstanding recovery
superpower, specialized social support is shown to heal. Immerse yourself in a support group fellowship that fits you!
superpower, specialized social support is shown to heal. Immerse yourself in a support group fellowship that fits you!
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Professional Services
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Whether formal treatment or supplemental services like sober living or coaching, there's a world of effective professional resources.
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Integrative Practices
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From stress management,
nutrition & movement, to the science of happiness, an expansive number of complementary tools are indicated in optimizing one's recovery.
nutrition & movement, to the science of happiness, an expansive number of complementary tools are indicated in optimizing one's recovery.
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About Us
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Is this for you?
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Can you relate to any of the following?
- Has substance use or compulsive behavior messed things up in your life at some point?
- Maybe originally the behavior served an important purpose, (was a good thing), but eventually you found the costs outweighed its benefits?
- You did more than intended, or couldn't cut back or stop like you wanted?
- It limited your ability to show up for responsibilities, relationships, or other things you liked to do?
- Did you ever find that once you were in the cycle, it was so difficult to stop, (or stop for long) even when you really wanted and tried?
- Or maybe now you've been in the recovery process for some time, either on-and-off or consistently, maybe even with some relief, yet...you sense there is ‘something more’ that is missing, unbalanced or not-clicking?
- Perhaps you’re doing great, in the flow, growing strong, and your spirit is simply hungry to build on that; to deepen the work and diversify areas that supercharge your well-being so you can shine, soar, and live your best life?
If you can relate to any of this…
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Same here!
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In my youth, I loved to use drink and use. Substances were the wonder-cure for a great many things. They were fun as hell; boosted confidence and belonging; enhanced creativity and performance; blasted stress, anxiety and depression out of the water (fingergun: ‘pew-pew’); and pretty much filled up that aching inner pit in my gut,…that existential black hole. They masked the looming sense that I was an alien who didn’t’ really belong in this life. I finally felt comfortable in my own skin!
But eventually, into adulthood, for some unknown reason, they turned on me. They ceased to be magical coping skills for life. Those effects waned and died. Simultaneously they created little messes that progressively became big messes. Eventually they took a giant crap on my entire life: on everything and everyone important to me. To top it off I reached a point where I couldn’t stop (or stay stopped), despite my best efforts and strongest willpower! Wtf!
Eventually through an integrative combo of professional evidence-based treatments and services, ongoing time-tested wisdom of grass-roots social support methods, culture and community, and science-based complementary health practices, I emerged from my dark night of the soul.
The sweetest surprise though, was that with time, this awarded me so much more than freedom from the suffering. I found a deeper life purpose, meaning, joy and vitality than I had ever known! Since then, both in and outside of grad school, I’ve continued to research and pull together all the practices, resources and treatment components shown to supercharge one’s recovery into one place to help myself, peers in the recovery community, and people I work with professionally as a psychologist, coach, and educator.
With every new holistic recovery element I add to my repertoire, I find life’s endless possibilities are in-reach. Perhaps the greatest discovery I found, was that the many paths and tools of recovery from addiction actually overlap and double as those that empower anyone (addicted or not) to succeed, thrive and live our best life. I’m honored to share these with others I feel akin to, on a similar path. There are many roads to freedom and thriving…Let’s get you the best transportation, road map and supplies to traverse yours brilliantly!
In my youth, I loved to use drink and use. Substances were the wonder-cure for a great many things. They were fun as hell; boosted confidence and belonging; enhanced creativity and performance; blasted stress, anxiety and depression out of the water (fingergun: ‘pew-pew’); and pretty much filled up that aching inner pit in my gut,…that existential black hole. They masked the looming sense that I was an alien who didn’t’ really belong in this life. I finally felt comfortable in my own skin!
But eventually, into adulthood, for some unknown reason, they turned on me. They ceased to be magical coping skills for life. Those effects waned and died. Simultaneously they created little messes that progressively became big messes. Eventually they took a giant crap on my entire life: on everything and everyone important to me. To top it off I reached a point where I couldn’t stop (or stay stopped), despite my best efforts and strongest willpower! Wtf!
Eventually through an integrative combo of professional evidence-based treatments and services, ongoing time-tested wisdom of grass-roots social support methods, culture and community, and science-based complementary health practices, I emerged from my dark night of the soul.
The sweetest surprise though, was that with time, this awarded me so much more than freedom from the suffering. I found a deeper life purpose, meaning, joy and vitality than I had ever known! Since then, both in and outside of grad school, I’ve continued to research and pull together all the practices, resources and treatment components shown to supercharge one’s recovery into one place to help myself, peers in the recovery community, and people I work with professionally as a psychologist, coach, and educator.
With every new holistic recovery element I add to my repertoire, I find life’s endless possibilities are in-reach. Perhaps the greatest discovery I found, was that the many paths and tools of recovery from addiction actually overlap and double as those that empower anyone (addicted or not) to succeed, thrive and live our best life. I’m honored to share these with others I feel akin to, on a similar path. There are many roads to freedom and thriving…Let’s get you the best transportation, road map and supplies to traverse yours brilliantly!
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What you'll get here
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- Collect the tools, map and support needed to get free from the quicksand cesspool of addiction. (and give it a wide berth in the future) and build a baddass life on a solid recovery foundation.
- Drawing from the 3 Keys to Holistic Recovery, learn lifestyle practices that complement and supercharge that baddassery.
- Increase / Improve:
- Joy & pleasure
- Meaning, Purpose, Depth, Sacredness
- Success and Achievement
- Vitality/Health
- Mindfulness and Presence
- Emotion Regulation & Distress Tolerance
- Communication & Interpersonal Effectiveness
- Nourishment & Movement
- Lovingkindness, Empathy, & Compassion
- Community, Belonging and Contribution
- Self-esteem, Learning, & Growth
- Creativity, Passion and Flow-state (engagement)
- Rest, Relaxation & Sleep
- Safety and Security
- Balance and Equanimity
- Authenticity, autonomy, empowerment, agency
- Hope, optimism, awe, & gratitude
- Joy & pleasure
- Decrease/Release/Process through:
- Shame/guilt
- Stress & Anxiety
- Adverse past experiences
- Grief, loss, depression
- Impulsiveness, cravings, and triggers.
- Emotional unbalance and distress
- Shame/guilt
- Eventually and ultimately, let's get you equipped with the treasure trove of essential elements that enable your transformation from surviving to thriving: Dream big, shine bright, & live your best life…to its fullest! Boom!
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What makes me/us different?
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- From addiction to recovery to fulfilling my dreams to giving back full circle, I’ve gone through it myself.
- I draw from my own experience in giving and receiving support in recovery communities for multiple decades, including mentoring others and contributing through volunteer service commitments.
- I have a masters and doctorate level education with a focus in addiction psychology, and research in complementary/integrative addiction treatment components.
- I draw from several years working as a psychologist/therapist in addiction treatment as well as developing and implementing integrative therapeutic program curriculum, and directing clinical services.
- I've undergone post-graduate training in relevant evidence-based interventions, such as EMDR, DBT, and Motivational Interviewing.
- I'm a certified Neurodynamic Breathwork facilitator and long term researcher and practitioner of a diversity of integrative health practices.
- Additionally, Holistic Recovery partner Sara Gagnon, M.A. is a Masters level educator, certified integrative health coach and pursuing her graduate level nutritionist certification.
- Finally, together we are passionate (& at times neurotic) about nerding-out, researching and compiling all the latest integrative health and complimentary practices shown to help us thrive; incorporating them into our own lives; and sharing them with you!