Welcome!
Hi there! I’m Abby, the founder of The Joywell. For many years, helping women achieve well-being has been my passion. As a woman and mom who has had (and still has!) a variety of positive experiences and tremendous obstacles, I understand and appreciate the challenges life can throw at us. However, nothing really exists to address these challenges outside of psychotherapy. While psychotherapy is wonderful, useful, and valuable, not everyone needs or enjoys psychotherapy. Likewise, psychotherapy cannot always, within its specific scope, address all of the needs we have! After years of research, personal experiences, advanced training and education, and lots of life lived, I decided to create a one-of-a-kind place for women to gather (virtually for now), learn, connect, and get the kind of mental health care they deserve.
Welcome to The Joywell - let us be your village!
How the story began...
It all started in 2011 when I began my graduate studies in Clinical Psychology at Columbia University’s Teachers College. When I finished my coursework there, I noticed that I still felt uneasy about how we, as mental health professionals, approach the human experience. So, I pursued more education to see if I could find what I had been looking for.
In 2015, I began my studies in mental health and wellness at Pace University and have never looked back. You see, approaching mental health and wellness from a perspective of well-being as opposed to from a perspective of “you = your symptoms,” broadened my view of what it means to be mentally well.
Once I became a mom, this view grew by leaps and bounds, along with my family and my heart. I realized that women in the reproductive years are largely underserved (and under-researched) by the fields of mental health and psychology.
And then...
While at Pace, I began an internship at my current private practice (link here), focusing on Maternal Mental Health. I also trained in Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Perinatal Mental Health, EMDR (not used in coaching, limited to trauma), and, most importantly, Positive Psychology. I also completed my coaching certification at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition, which adds another element of mental wellness to my practice and my clients.
I love bringing my whole-person and varied approach to my psychotherapy clients. It gives me so much joy to see the measurable progress they have in recovering from whatever symptoms they experienced. This passion I feel for clients experiencing measurable results to is exactly why I created The Joywell, and created a place where women from all walks of life can pursue a variety of Mental Health Coaching experiences and services.
