Beyond Shame book cover

A Groundbreaking Approach to Addiction Recovery

Beyond Shame offers an integrative approach that combines key concepts, making it a valuable resource for addiction recovery.

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A Compassionate Resource Redefining Addiction Treatment

Beyond Shame transforms addiction treatment. It focuses on the whole person, not just the brain, to address addiction's roots, especially shame. This integrative, compassionate approach empowers practitioners, families, and individuals for sustainable recovery.

BPSSEM Approach

The BPSSEM Approach is Beyond Shame's core model. It treats addiction as a complex, multi-dimensional illness, integrating biological, psychological, social, spiritual, and experiential factors for a holistic understanding and treatment.

Shame as a Driver of Addiction

pinpoints hidden shame as a core force behind addiction. It explores how stigma and internalized shame perpetuate the addiction cycle, offering strategies to confront and heal shame for sustainable recovery.

Trauma-Informed Care

recognizes the link between trauma and addiction. It offers trauma-sensitive methods to create a supportive treatment environment, addressing past wounds for true healing.

A New Definition of Addiction & Its Treatment

Beyond Shame offers a transformative, whole-person approach to addiction, moving beyond the brain-disorder view. It empowers practitioners, families, and individuals to address addiction's roots, especially shame, for compassionate, holistic, and sustainable recovery.

Biological

Psychological

Social

Spiritual

Experiential

For Those Ready to Rethink Addiction and Recovery

Beyond Shame is designed for a wide range of individuals who encounter substance use disorders in different aspects of life. Here’s who may benefit from it:

  • Those working in therapy, counseling, and addiction treatment will find a structured, evidence-based approach to understanding and addressing addiction through a holistic framework, the Bio-Psycho-Social-Spiritual-Experiential Model (BPSSEM).

  • Doctors, nurses, and other medical practitioners who encounter patients with substance use disorders will gain insights into the underlying complexities of addiction, as well as effective tools to support patient care and recovery.

  • Those directly or indirectly affected by addiction, including individuals in recovery or families seeking a deeper understanding, will find practical approaches to address the multifaceted aspects of addiction and healing.

  • For those studying mental health, social work, or psychology, this book serves as a comprehensive guide, covering essential theories and applied practices in addiction treatment.

  • Those working in public health policy, community outreach, or advocacy for mental health reform will gain valuable insights into the social and systemic challenges surrounding addiction, helping them foster stigma reduction and support sustainable change.

About the Authors

Jeff and Becky Georgi bring a combined 70 years of experience in addiction and mental health. Jeff, a former clinical director at the Duke Addictions Program, and Becky, former clinical director of the Duke Adolescent Program, are both consulting associates at Duke University. Together, they founded Georgi Educational and Counseling Services (GECS), an organization dedicated to improving patient and student care through training and education.

Integrating “Beyond Shame” into your Practice

Beyond Shame provides practitioners with actionable BPSSEM-grounded tools. This structured framework tackles addiction from multiple angles, offering strategies for craving management, co-occurring issues, and resilience building to guide patients toward lasting recovery.

  • Utilize the book’s Bio-Psycho-Social-Spiritual-Experiential model to create a more comprehensive treatment plan that addresses all aspects of a patient’s life, moving beyond a narrow focus on symptoms.

  • Integrate shame-focused approaches from Beyond Shame to help patients identify, process, and overcome the hidden shame often fueling their addiction, making room for more meaningful healing.

  • Use practical strategies from the book to support patients in managing cravings, providing personalized tools and techniques to reduce triggers and improve self-regulation.

  • Adopt the trauma-sensitive methods highlighted in Beyond Shame to ensure that patients feel safe, supported, and empowered, especially if they have a history of adverse experiences.

  • Leverage the book’s Modified Interpersonal Group Psychotherapy (MIGP) framework to foster connection, accountability, and social support in group sessions, tailored specifically to addiction recovery.

  • Help patients explore purpose, connection, and meaning as part of their recovery journey, using the book’s Spiritual Platform™ to build resilience and a renewed sense of self.

Real Voices. Real Impact.

Discover how Beyond Shame resonates with practitioners and thought leaders. These reviews showcase the book’s powerful impact and its holistic approach to treating addiction.

  • The lives saved thereby are measurably significant. But the number of lives, families, and communities improved is immeasurable. As is my gratitude for his contribution.

    BOB TOOMEY, former director, Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services of South Carolina

  • Georgi’s years of success in treating patients and steady zeal for knowledge shine through on each page.

    Nicole Schramm-Sapyta, PhD, Associate Professor of the Practice, Duke Institute for Brain Sciences

  • Addiction is a complex disease…it is a disease of the brain, the body, the family, the social environment, and indeed society itself. As such, there is no one-size fits-all way to treat it. Every person is different in terms of how they come to be addicted, and what it will take to get them into recovery. That being said, there are some common themes, and Georgi has brilliantly laid them out in this incredibly comprehensive book. In the first 6 chapters, he deftly breaks down the five key domains of vulnerability to addiction: Biological, Psychological, Social, Spiritual, and Experiential. Each chapter takes a deep dive into scientific research, with clinical examples that emphasize key points. Georgi’s years of success in treating patients and steady zeal for knowledge shine through on each page. In the second half of the book, he provides concrete steps for clinicians to integrate his model into practice. He unpacks each component with relatable examples, scientific evidence, practical advice, and a focus on the goal—always—of showing us all that addiction is no one’s fault, and that people CAN get better! When we--as clinicians who treat patients with addiction, as friends or family members of someone with addiction, or just as a concerned member of the public—understand the complexity of how addiction develops, we begin to understand the role that all of us play in recovery. Georgi’s book helps us all to take a big step in that direction.

    Nicole Schramm-Sapyta, PhD
    Associate Professor of the Practice, Duke Institute for Brain Sciences

  • We all understand that recovery is more than abstinence. And addiction is more than ingestion of some substance. Treatment is one path from one to the other. Success requires the counselor or therapist to appreciate multiple dimensions in the life and very being of the client. In this book Georgi presents five critical domains in a manner that is both erudite and engaging. Success also requires engagement and commitment of the client. The second half of his book details a practice design that evokes participant commitment. This modification of traditional practice brings profound change to counselor pride and client outcome. And as capstone, the resulting connection awakens (or re-awakens) the spiritual capacity within each of us. This book is more than a hope or a theory. In SC, Georgi collaborated with more than a hundred counselors over several years to help move clients from addiction to recovery. The lives saved thereby is measurably significant. But the number of lives, families and communities improved is immeasurable. As is my gratitude for his contribution.

    Bob Toomey
    Previous Director, Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services of South Carolina

  • Very well written and thorough, this treatment of addiction – from its social and psychological underpinnings to treatment approaches – is founded on Georgi’s decades of successful clinical and mentoring work. Few sources couple such a reader-friendly presentation with a detailed presentation of an emerging clinical approach. The breadth of perspective and nuanced description of emerging ideas related to addiction and treatment will be useful for clinicians, educators, families, and patients.

    Scott Swartzwelder, PhD
    Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University
    Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine
    Associate Vice President for Neuropsychology and Child & Adolescent Services, Avance Care

  • As the Director of a county-wide commission that treats substance use disorders in Conway, SC, Jeff has provided clinical training for my staff for many years. Based on the information contained in his book these trainings have empowered staff to provide consistent and highly effective treatment services to those suffering from addictive disorders. I highly recommend Jeff's book for any clinician or agency looking to improve treatment quality and effectiveness to a population that remains misunderstood and stigmatized.

    John Coffin, BSW, MS
    Executive Director, Shoreline Behavioral Health Services

  • In this fascinating book, Jeff Georgi explores one of the most vexing questions about the human condition... Why do we develop addictions and how can clinicians help us recover? Jeff takes readers on a tour of five domains (biological, psychological, social, spiritual, and experiential) that contribute to our behavior, including addictions. When one or more of these domains is a source of strain on the individual -- perhaps due to emotional trauma, physical pain or illness, social isolation, or intense shame -- the odds go up that the person will engage in maladaptive behaviors to cope. Similarly, building healthy pillars -- strong social support, spiritual beliefs, stress reduction skills -- can help free people from addictive behaviors so they can thrive. The book explains how clinicians can use insights from clients to address these five domains in coordinated ways that can free them from addiction.

    Aaron White, PhD
    Leader, Epidemiology and Biometry Branch. 
    Senior Scientific Advisor to the NIAAA Director. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)