Jake Joy Therapy

02/24/2026

Acrylic painting of the Cecil Hotel on board. Are you interested in having this in your house? Reach out to me- it’s a red tag $100 a painting sale! I will be posting a bunch of them.

01/30/2026

Children are not property.
They are not bargaining chips.
And they deserve a voice in custody decisions.

As a therapist, I’ve witnessed parents leave abusive relationships — only to be legally required to send their children back into unsafe or destabilizing environments half the time.

A proposed change to Canada’s Divorce Act aims to give children more voice and better protect families from coercive control and domestic violence. This matters. Not for politics — but for children’s safety, emotional wellbeing, and right to feel secure.

If you care about kids, family systems, or survivor protection, this is worth paying attention to.

Let’s do better by our children.

11/11/2025

11/11/2025

Just a part of my practice. Emotional awareness is power.

10/22/2025

WHEN HELPING BECOMES LOSING YOURSELF — “Empathy Without Boundaries” Empaths and people-pleasers often get caught in the trap of trying to heal the avoidant — believing that enough love or patience will make them open up.

But it becomes a cycle of hurt and help — one person retreats, the other overextends.
You end up carrying the weight of someone else’s healing while quietly abandoning your own needs.

Compassion without boundaries isn’t sustainable — it’s self-erasure dressed as love.
You can care deeply without carrying someone else’s pain.
Healing begins the moment you turn that compassion inward.

10/11/2025

This one was a blooper video, but Hazel looks so cute, so i am sharing. 😁

10/11/2025

People-pleasing often begins as kindness, but when it becomes a habit of micro-sacrifices — the quiet “it’s fine” moments — it starts to erase you.

Every time you soften your truth to keep the peace, you send yourself a message: “My needs matter less.”
Over time, that message becomes your self-image.

Healing means reclaiming your voice — one honest word, one small boundary, one truth at a time.
You’re not too much for wanting space. You’re not selfish for saying no.
You’re simply learning that your comfort counts too.

YOU CAN FIND ME
Every “it’s fine” when it isn’t… every small silence to keep the peace…
Those micro-sacrifices blur your identity.
It’s time to reclaim your voice.

Hashtags:

10/11/2025

Just a little grass weaving to entertain myself. 😆. The one basket has been finished with beeswax. These take a million hours to finish - like most textile work.

10/10/2025

Avoidance isn’t apathy — it’s protection.
It’s the nervous system’s way of saying, “If I stay hidden, I can’t get hurt.”
But over time, it creates distance and loneliness — the very thing it’s trying to avoid.

Avoidance can look like detachment, control, criticism, or even blame. When someone tries to reach you emotionally, it can feel like exposure — and the defense fights back.

Avoidance isn’t the absence of emotion; it’s emotion trapped under fear. Healing begins by meeting that part with understanding, not shame.

Short / Story Version:
Avoidance wears many masks: calm, control, even criticism.
It’s not about not caring — it’s about staying safe.
What looks cold is often a heart protecting itself.

FIND ME

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10/10/2025

These three patterns — Avoidance, People-Pleasing, and Over-Helping — all stem from the same source: a nervous system trying to stay safe.

Each pattern began as protection.
Each one says, “If I manage others’ emotions, I can avoid pain.”

But healing isn’t about dismantling the pattern overnight — it’s about meeting it with awareness, compassion, and small acts of truth that slowly bring you back home to yourself.

✨ Read the full blog series: Patterns of Protection — now live on my website.

Find me

09/24/2025

Ever go from fine… fine… NOT fine at all? 🙃 That’s the anxiety spiral taking over your brain and body. The good news: you can spot it, interrupt it, and even plan your own exit strategy. 💡

In my latest post, I share why spirals happen, how old hurts fuel them, and one simple way to get your calm back when anxiety hijacks your day.

✨ Here is my article: https://www.jakejoytherapy.com/blog/how-to-break-free-from-anxiety-spirals-and-take-back-your-calm

Do you ever feel fine one minute and completely spun out the next? Spiraling anxiety can hijack your focus, push you into people-pleasing, or send you reaching for quick fixes you don’t even want. In this post, I share why anxiety sometimes takes over so fast, how old hurts can fuel it, and the si...