Joy Stearns' story

As a child, Joy experienced domestic violence. In adulthood, after the tragic loss of her five-year-old daughter Melia and then, three years later, the unexpected death of her husband from an aneurysm, Joy spent the next few years in a state of shock

“It was crazy,” she says. “It almost destroyed me. I couldn’t sleep. My nerves were frazzled. I kept having these heart palpitations, anxious sweating, nausea and headaches, and chronic pain. Even though I remained highly functioning as a construction architect, inside I was shaking to the bone.”

Diagnosed with complex PTSD, she went to several medical doctors for help. But the one-size-fits-all, “standard of care” approach failed to provide what she needed.

“They all kept saying, ‘Here, take these antidepressants.’ And I was like, ‘I don’t want antidepressants because I’m not depressed.’ And they would say, ‘Of course you’re depressed. Your child and husband died.’ And I was like, ‘Actually, this is different. Yes, I’m grieving, but I’m not depressed. I know you might find that hard to comprehend, but I need help for my nerves.’ And they just had no clue what to do to help me.”

Eventually she went to a psychiatrist who was also a pain specialist. But the result was exactly the same: endless rounds of antidepressants and pain medications.