Hello! It is good to finally introduce myself to you all, and share a little bit about how I came to Whole Connection to serve you and this community. It feels that with all that has been going on this year, important things are being often pushed aside by urgent matters. So this introduction may come now a little late, but it still is relevant that you know what is happening at Whole Connection.

1. Announcing Laia as Co-Director
Hello! It is good to finally introduce myself to you all, and share a little bit about how I came
to Whole Connection to serve you and this community. It feels that with all that has been
going on this year, important things are being often pushed aside by urgent matters. So this
introduction may come now a little late, but it still is relevant that you know what is
happening at Whole Connection.
So maybe I can start with a little story about myself. My name is Laia and I am originally
from Barcelona, with Catalan and Basque roots. I emigrated to the U.S. 9 years ago to start a
new career in psychology, and specifically the interconnection between psychology and the
body. Before landing in the U.S. I had been working at the Autonomous University of
Barcelona, in the department of Political Science, doing research and teaching on models of
democracy and the integration of immigrants in the city of Barcelona, that speaks about my
interest in impacting larger community dynamics. I also have a background in dance and
competitive gymnastics, which has resulted in several injuries, and a different understanding
of my own somatic self. All of these seem like random threads of my past, different rivers
that somehow merged into a single stream that is the work that I currently do: trauma
counseling work and attachment related exploration through somatic lenses in sociocultural
contexts. This is a mouthful, but basically means I look at everything that has impacted
someone’s trajectory (in this life and transgenerationally) and integrating the wisdom of the
body, the mind, the emotions, and the spiritual self to increase a sense of internal ease in life,
through all the challenges that we face everyday.
I landed at Whole Connection after some years of working at Moving to End Sexual Assault,
and later at Moving Beyond Trauma (a program of Mental Health Partners), where I helped
develop quality programs and assessments for individuals that had experienced trauma, as
well as working as a bilingual counselor. In parallel, I also started teaching at Naropa
University for a few years. Both experiences were extremely powerful in shaping my skills
and supporting how to apply them to clinical work and teaching. Although it was a very rich
experience, I went through a rough period of burnout, due to the amount of work that I took
on, so I decided to switch gears. I was invited to teach at the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
Institute, training counselors with a passion to work on trauma and the body. I also met
Phillip Horner through a mutual friend, and he invited me to join Whole Connection as a lead
supervisor, which had the mission to offer affordable care, holding a strong social justice lens
around treatment, and with the purpose to make it sustainable for counselors to work in this
field. This past year Phillip and I decided to co-direct and partner in continuing Whole
Connection’s mission. This position suits me, not only because I can put into practice many
of my skills, but also because my alignment with the values and the mission that Phillip
Horner embodied at Whole Connection. Read more…