#joannacheek

[dlsphjournalism]

PSYCHOLOGY TODAY --  It’s Not You. It’s the World

BY JOANNA CHEEK (FGJ ‘21) -- I’m not supposed to talk about myself. It’s been trained out of me. So has reacting, desiring, hurting, hating, and really, being human. Freud Botoxed the faces and hearts of generations of psychiatrists by preaching we become “blank screens” for you. We must be neutral so we don’t interfere with your process. Who I am on the other side of the couch—with my muted heartbreaks and stifled rages—only obstructs my purpose: I’m here to help you. READ MORE. 

[dlsphjournalism]

TORONTO STAR -- From despair to hope: After COVID’s toll on mental health, more Canadians may soon be able to access care

BY JOANNA CHEEK (FGJ ‘21) -- When Juanna Ricketts first became ill a decade ago, she hadn’t stopped working since her first job at 14. By then, stressful events started piling up: a miscarriage, the breakup of her marriage, a mistake at her work as a customer service rep at a call centre that cost her job. READ MORE. 

[dlsphjournalism]

TORONTO STAR --  After incidents where ex-partners killed their children, laws and attitudes within Canada’s court system are beginning to change about dangerous parents

BY JOANNA CHEEK (FGJ ‘21) -- On Jan. 28, 2020, Jennifer Kagan brought an emergency motion to court to suspend or supervise her ex-husband’s access to their four-year-old daughter, Keira. READ MORE. 

[dlsphjournalism]

HEALTHY DEBATE -- Smiling to death: The hidden dangers of being ‘Nice’

BY JOANNA CHEEK (FGJ ‘21) -- Being nice and pleasing others – while socially applauded and generally acknowledged as positive traits – actually can harm our health, says Gabor Maté. READ MORE. 

[dlsphjournalism]

MACLEAN’S -- We gave them our leftover frozen embryos. Now, we're a family.

BY JOANNA CHEEK (FGJ ‘21) -- “Would you like to hold her?” Lisa asks. Having travelled more than 4,500 kilometres from B.C. to Quebec with my husband, Tyler, to meet three-month-old Emma, I drop my suitcase and bound toward her, my arms open wide. Emma’s large dark eyes and ski-jump nose pop out of her blanket with the same spunk that our two sons showed at that age. It’s hard not to notice all the similarities—she is my sons’ full genetic sibling, after all. But unlike our children, Emma didn’t grow in my body and my husband and I are not her parents. READ MORE. 

[dlsphjournalism]

MACLEAN’S -- The lonely life of a wildfire lookout in northern Alberta

BY JOANNA CHEEK (FGJ ‘21) -- “Thunder showers are expected again,” a monotone voice reports over the radio, “and crossover conditions persist.” Aaron Champagne, 38, scowls from his perch 30 m up in the smoke-clogged sky, in the shadow of the Rockies. He’s one of Alberta’s 100 lookout observers, the first line of defence against wildfires, who live alone for five months a year in the parched summer forests, spending long hours, seven days a week, spotting first smokes. READ MORE. 

[dlsphjournalism]

NEO.LIFE --  Misinformation Is A Public Health Crisis—So Let’s Treat It That Way 

BY JOANNA CHEEK (FGJ ‘21) --  On April 23, 2020, during a White House briefing on the novel coronavirus, former president Donald Trump had a brief sip of inspiration followed by a dangerous gush of misinformation. READ MORE. 

[dlsphjournalism]

HEALTHY DEBATE -- ‘Paradigm shift’ needed to deal with mental-health catastrophe

BY JOANNA CHEEK (FGJ '21) -- While there is no health without mental health, provincial governments in Canada still cover only half of treatments for mental-health conditions – paying for doctors and hospitalizations but rarely for psychotherapists and psychological services. READ MORE.