We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Justin Janoska a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Justin, thanks for joining us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

When I finished obtaining my Master’s degree in 2017, I moved to Los Angeles a place I have dreamt of living in since I was in high school. I finally felt ready to leave the east coast and live on my own; however, I my business was still just getting off the ground. Even though I had about $5,000 in my bank, I signed a lease in West Hollywood. I had about 3 months to make it work, but I was determined. For about a year and a half I lived in this small studio apartment with nothing but cardboard boxes and an air mattress. I spent my days sitting on the kitchen counter doing my work and taking calls with clients. Safe to say, I lived a very minimalist life.

As this was going on, I was dating a girl in Florida and trying to juggle the challenges around that. At one point there were discussions around me moving in with her in Florida. I started to pack up my things in the apartment and gradually ship them one by one at the local UPS store. I box made it to Florida and then I got the most soul-crushing call from my girlfriend saying I can’t move in. For weeks, I would try to convince her to change her mind. It was never clear to me why things suddenly changed tides. I remember sitting on the floor of my dusty apartment floor with the sun rays peering through the blinds painting the floor with the the only sign of hope around.

She said, “you’re just not the one for me.” From there, it become more vague and unclear. Things didn’t add up. Where was this coming from? It felt incredibly surreal. After we broke up, I wallowed in shame, grief and disillusionment sitting in the same corner of that apartment watching the dusty pile even higher.

This was traumatic for me in ways I didn’t fully understand until later. I felt compelled stifled by the loss that nothing seemed remotely satisfying. Every day was joyless and apathetic. Clearly, my sense of self-worth hinged off of my relationship. Being in a co-dependent relationship kept be alive and I didn’t know how to be alone again.

Each morning I would wake up and meditate in the courtyard hoping to feel renewed. I started integrating healing techniques that I was recently learning from my therapist. After 3 months of suffering that Summer, I start to come out of hibernation. An insight came to be one afternoon when I realized, this wasn’t about me.

I came to see the truth that set me free from the self-recrimination, grief and guilt. My ex-girlfriend was also a victim of trauma from her parents. The outcome wasn’t a reflection of me and my flaws, or even her. It was the influence of trauma. There was no way for me to control the situation to make it work when she was already sold the story of “he’s not the one” by her mother.

This personal experience paved the way for me to explore trauma more deeply. I then could see how this along with various kinds of insidious trauma affects us as humans; specifically, emotional/physical neglect and abuse. Integrating trauma awareness and strategies for healing with clients was a game changer for my practice. It became an integral ingredient in the process of recovery from autoimmune disease.

Now, my mission is to conjoin trauma and autoimmune disease so others can see the close relationship – an area that is severely under-recognized. Ever since I have discovered this, my client’s transformations have been monumental. Informing and supporting others with trauma has become such a prime interest of mine that I am now back in school pursing my Doctorate in Health Science with a focus on trauma counseling.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Justin is on a mission to help revolutionize the way we recover from autoimmune disease after watching his mother suffer from incapacitating symptoms of Hashimoto’s for over two decades.

Hence, the birth of his company, The Autoimmune Revolution where he guides women to regain control of their body, discover a sense of wholeness and remember what it feels to be alive.
 He holds a Master’s in Human Nutrition and has spent the past 4 years doing post-graduate work studying mind-body medicine and trauma. He is currently pursuing his doctorate in health science with a concentration in trauma counseling.

What he has found is that once pockets of pain and untouched traumatic wounds have been reconciled, even the most seemingly insurmountable autoimmune diseases are able to be tamed. Transformation and transcendence is within anyone’s grasp if we are only willing to face painful truth and step outside of the conventional medical model.

As a wounded healer himself, he supports clients to acquire a deeper understanding of their life story, how they got here, and guides them to come home to their authentic self.

Justin and his team of trauma-informed autoimmune experts have transformed hundreds of humans who possess Hashimoto’s, Psoriasis, Lupus, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, PCOS, Infertility, Anxiety, Eating Disorders and Trauma.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

That it wasn’t about me. For most of my life I felt like the reason why relationships dissolved was because of character flaws and mistakes I made. Granted, no one is perfect, but this was beyond that. What I was seeing was the depiction of trauma. What I was actually experiencing was not being “good enough” because my partner didn’t feel good enough. I wasn’t able to meet their emotional needs because they never gave it to themselves. I learned that relationships are an add-on; not a necessity. I unlearned that belief that it’s my fault and I am attracting wounded people, when in truth, we live in a traumatized society and most of us are walking around not knowing it.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Undoubtedly, it’s the integration of trauma in autoimmune disease and PCOS. There is still very little talk about it since most people view these conditions as something that is corrected by “fixing the body” with diet, supplements, medications, etc. What I bring to the industry is helping people bring awareness to their past and redefining what trauma looks like. I show people who trauma shows up in behaviors and coping strategies – things that are fundamental components to chronic disease. Ever since I started doing this, more and more people have had breakthroughs and discovered where the core of healing is for them.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.theautoimmunerevolution.com
• Instagram: @justinjanoska
• Facebook: http://facebook.com/justin.janoska