#joannacheek

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.