I’m elated to share with you our very first podcast guest interview– a conversation with none other than Jan Winhall. Jan is someone I’ve had the pleasure of learning from over the last couple of years through her many online teachings and books. She brings both warmth and clarity to the conversation around trauma and addiction, and her work has been hugely influential in shaping my own practice working with clients in these areas.
You can listen to the full episode via your favorite podcast listening app, or jump right to my conversation with Jan via the video below if you prefer watching. Enjoy!
Jan Winhall, M.S.W. P.I.F.O.T. is an author, teacher and seasoned trauma and addiction psychotherapist. She is an Educational Partner with the Polyvagal Institute where she offers a three-year training program based on her books Treating Trauma and Addiction with the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model and 20 Embodied Practices for Healing Trauma and Addiction: Using the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model, (Norton) 2025. She is an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Toronto and a Certifying Co-Ordinator with the International Focusing Institute. Jan is Co-Director of the Borden Street Clinic where she supervises graduate students. She enjoys teaching all over the world.
In this conversation Jan and I dug deep into her model, which pulls from Eugene Gendlin’s Focusing framework and Steven Porges’ Polyvagal model and offers a de-pathologizing and embodied approach to how we might heal trauma and addiction. Jan and I talked about:
what she calls the “trauma feedback loop” of addiction
the power of tapping into the Felt Sense as a source of deep inner wisdom that can be a guide through our healing process
hybrid nervous system states and and the nuances of how our nervous system works to keep us safe through traumatic and/or high stress situations
There’s so much depth in this conversation and I can’t wait for you to soak in Jan’s wisdom! You can find a plethora of resources available on Jan’s website if you want to dig deeper into her work and offerings.
Visuals of Jan’s Felt Sense Polyvagal model are below with two versions, one for clinicians/practitioners and one for clients, respectively:
Resources/ links mentioned:
My free ‘Feel your Feelings’ Toolkit
More info about 1:1 somatic support with me
Check out my free somatic practices here
Get my AWAKE workshop, on demand
Find me on Instagram
Learn more about Jan’s Community Practice Groups
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