A Hero's Welcome Podcast
A Hero’s Welcome Podcast
For the therapists doing the hard work and the hearts behind the healing.
Hosted by Maria Laquerre Diego and Liliana Baylon, both LMFT-S and RPT-S, A Hero’s Welcome is a podcast created by and for mental health professionals. We spotlight the work, wisdom, and lived experiences of therapists who show up for others every day, especially those working with children, families, and communities impacted by trauma, migration, and systemic stress.
Each episode features honest conversations with expert clinicians, supervisors, trainers, and consultants. We talk about clinical insights, cultural humility, and what it means to support healing in today’s world. This is your space if you’re a therapist seeking a more profound connection, real-world tools, and community.
Hosts:
Maria Laquerre-Diego
maria@anewhopetc.org
Liliana Baylon
liliana@lilianabaylon.com
A Hero's Welcome Podcast
Transforming Mental Health Experiences for BIPOC Communities with Joy Ewing
What if mental health care could be as inviting as a spa day? We sit down with Joy Ewing, a trailblazer in holistic therapy and owner of Joy Life Counseling, to uncover how she's transforming mental health support for the BIPOC community in Aurora, Colorado. Joy shares her groundbreaking approaches, including emotionally focused therapy (EFT), EMDR for trauma, and alternative therapies like neurofeedback and yoga, all tailored to meet the unique needs of her clients. Her practice stands out by offering specialized support groups, such as those for Black mothers, and community-building activities that foster an inclusive environment.
Join us as we unravel the stigma surrounding mental health care, particularly within marginalized communities. Joy reveals how her practice integrates mind, body, and spirit, creating a welcoming, spa-like atmosphere that challenges the traditional one-size-fits-all therapy model. We discuss the critical role her diverse therapeutic modalities play in addressing issues like racism and systemic oppression, and highlight the potential of non-medication-based solutions for those seeking mental health support. Joy Life Counseling is a testament to the power of therapy being seen as a form of self-care, especially for the "backpack population" burdened by racial discrimination.
We eagerly anticipate the experience of Joy's innovative wellness room, a space designed to embody community and inclusivity. With the exciting news of a funding grant to offer free therapy services, including yoga and massages, to Black birthing communities, Joy's commitment to accessible mental health care shines brightly. We invite you to connect with Joy for her expertise and insights, promising a deep dive into personal wellness and the importance of creating spaces that truly resonate with those who need them most.
A Hero's Welcome Podcast © Maria Laquerre-Diego & Liliana Baylon
Hello listeners, Welcome back for another episode of A Hero's Welcome Podcast. I'm your co-host, Mariela Care Diego, and I'm here with my lovely co-host.
Speaker 2:That's me, liliana Balan, and we are here with an amazing therapist that I met years ago. I think we met through being help helpers, right? Is that how we first met? Yeah, I think so. You see your face too, because I was like I'm like, oh my gosh I am.
Speaker 2:So, uh, joey and I are training, uh, emotionally focused therapy, and there's this idea that we go help us experts, um, to help other clinicians as they're learning the model. For all of you who cannot see us, because this is a podcast and you're not seeing the video, I just like did quotes, because a lot of times we're more nervous than they are as we're helping, but that's how we started. We have presented together as well. So she's an outstanding therapist in our community. Joy, how would you like to introduce to our audience?
Speaker 3:Thank, you for that. My name is Joy Ewing. I'm a licensed marriage and family therapist. I own a group practice in Aurora, colorado, and love what I do as a therapist and as a practice owner. We specialize in working with BIPOC, black women, especially couples, black couples, individuals, children and families. It's four clinicians at the office currently. We're all Black women and really just great dynamic here at Joy Life Counseling just welcoming environment and we also work with all clients. So we have a lot of clients held from all different cultural backgrounds and ethnicities and just love getting in there and working with our diverse community here in Aurora, colorado.
Speaker 2:Hey tell us what are we going to be discussing today?
Speaker 3:So I wanted to talk a little bit about like holistic care for BIPOC community as far as mental health goes. I'm talking about some of the different things that we offer here at Joy Life Counseling that's maybe outside of the box and just different ways that we support people when it does come to mental health and just breaking that stigma of seeking mental health, especially within the Black and Brown community when it comes to, you know, getting help when they need that help.
Speaker 1:I love that. I love that and our listeners know by now. We love an out of the box idea. So I would love to hear more about like kind of what are you offering that you feel is like out of the box, and how did you, where did the drive and the passion come? Because this is not easy to do anything outside of the box.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, definitely. So I started off private practice it was just myself and you know, working with clients. I think the first thing that I added was well, eft. I think the first thing that I added was well, eft, but I also added EMDR and really love that modality to work with clients especially that are experiencing a lot of trauma and that feel stuck, you know, in their trauma and you know kind of negative distress within their body and so helping them in that way. As I continue to grow as a private practice, I expanded into a group practice and I had a whole vision written out of what I wanted to offer and this was actually just the tip of the iceberg. But I was like I want yoga, I want, you know, neural feedback. I learned about that in school and I love that modality and went and got certified and lens neural feedback and purchased equipment and lens neural feedback to be able to offer that, because many therapists aren't doing it and especially a Black therapist offering neurofeedback. So we have neurofeedback. We have a pulse energy frequency mat. We have zero gravity massage chairs.
Speaker 3:We also do groups here. So we have a grieving moms group for Black women who have lost children. We also have a Black moms support group for moms who are expecting up to age three with their children and they can bring their kids with them to that moms group. And then we have another Black moms group that supports mothers with children four through 18. And so they come no children, it's all just supporting self-care, building community and all of these groups, by the way, they hang out outside of here. So they've built these subgroups where they're going out and doing things and it's just amazing to see the growth and what's happening here at Joy Life Counseling and I couldn't do it without my team Like my team of therapists are phenomenal.
Speaker 3:I have Valicia Moody, I have Malika Palo and Veronica Moogie and these therapists, I mean, they show up and they're ready to work. And you know we're having team meetings and figuring out what else we can do here in the community. We've even hosted it was a women's self-care retreat here at the office where women came and we had food, we had music, we did some journaling, we did guided meditation, we did yoga and then we just got together and just enjoyed each other and just got to know one another and hang out and it was just self-care day and it was for all women. So black, white, brown, everyone came out. It was beautiful. It was just a beautiful way to bring together the community. Some were clients, some were clinicians, some were just people that heard about us and the community that came out to that. So that was really cool.
Speaker 1:That's amazing, You're doing so much in community, but we can't, we can't just fly by. I'm sorry you said massage chairs.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:Zero gravity massage chairs, two of them in a wellness room. And so the wellness room has like an oil diffuser. It has like a little projection light thing up top. It has the little fake leaves on the wall. It's like really tranquil and like wellness centered. And then there's two massage chairs, there's eye masks, there's. What else do we have in there? We have everything.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry, Joy.
Speaker 3:I am now looking up a ticket to kind of voice playoffs to use, like if you just want to, you know, be a little cooler, but it heats up, it does all. A full body massage Like it hits every spot and it's pretty amazing. I wanted to offer that because at first we wanted to have a massage therapist here and we just didn't have enough people booking appointments and I was like, how else can we offer a full wellness experience here at Joy Life Counseling and think outside of the box once again? And that was another way I was able to offer massages and offer that wellness.
Speaker 3:So folks will come and they'll, you know, have their therapy session and maybe they need some more time to just process what came up for them and they're needing to feel, you know, just kind of like in a space that feels safe, that feels quiet, that feels, you know, relaxing for them. So I'm able to say, you know, go enjoy the massage chairs right across the hall for my office and they're able to go in there. And then clinicians myself included in between sessions, you know, if we're having a stressful day or we're just needing some time to just, you know, kind of shut down and unplug a little bit, we'll go enjoy those and it's free of charge for all the clinicians here at the office and it's just another way to just provide you know that holistic wellness and provide additional benefits for you know, being amazing clinicians that they are in all the work that they do.
Speaker 2:So for everyone who's listening right, because we got like, wait a minute, we have to go visit Joy but all of us, for all of you who are listening, including ourselves, when we're talking about this stigma of getting mental health, what you're doing is not only making it accessible, but offering. I love, because what you're talking about is like it's not just the one size fits all in regards to what we'll do MDR or do EFT or we'll do this. What you're saying is like no, let me. Let me offer you an experience where we're helping you integrate right mind, body, body and spirit.
Speaker 2:It's more than just exactly we're gonna, we're gonna do talk therapy or we're gonna do trauma work, when in reality, a lot of times we do EMDR for every any of you who are offering and if you have tried it, it is hard when we do EMDR sessions because then we need a lot of times the brain does not stop processing, so a lot of times we need that little extra. So by having an oil diffuser, by having this room, that what I picture is what Dr Robert Grant will say like oh my God, that room is amazing because we're able to provide sensory input or sensory output to the clients who need it after a session. Right, this is beautiful because you are providing a wellness approach to the services that you provide.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you, thank you, and that's exactly what the vision for Joy Life Counseling was to provide more of a spa like atmosphere, the kind of stigma of seeking mental health, by making it so where when people come in, they just feel like at peace, they're just, they're feeling welcome, they're feeling seen.
Speaker 3:I even tell my clients we have a waiting area but I'm like, if you want, before your session, you can go into the wellness room, you can stretch on a mat, you can meditate, you can have some quiet time before you even come into my office. Like there's tea at the office, there's, you know, coffee, there's water, there's snacks for clients. They can just grab what they need. We have LaCroix's in the fridge and we just really try to make it like a really welcoming space and just a space where people were just like wow, like this, this is where I feel you know seen, I feel cared for, I feel nurtured, like all parts of self, not just you know mental health, but you know mind, body, spirit, just like Liliana was saying, like just tapping into all parts of a person and just helping them to know that you know we care about them.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and I mean, and it must be working because you've expanded from solo practice to a group practice, so you're you're definitely on to something in addition to the amazing wellness room, but changing the atmosphere of what therapy is going to look like and feel like an experience, why? I mean, this feels like such a loaded question, but like why is that important, specifically for the BIPOC community?
Speaker 3:Well, I think it's important because one within the BIPOC community, especially within the Black community seeking mental health, there was such a big stigma, and there still is a big stigma. It's like you're crazy, something's wrong with you. Oh my gosh, like what happened? You need, you know, to go speak to a therapist a shrink, you know. And so, for me, I wanted to start to break down that stigma of seeking mental health and make it to where it's okay to reach out for help and support.
Speaker 3:It's okay to come here and not be, you know, completely broken down either, like you can come here and just work on different goals that you have for yourself and your life and talk about, maybe, different struggles when it comes to racism and systemic oppression and things like that, because that all impacts us in many different ways and impacts your mental health as well.
Speaker 3:So I feel that you know all people need to feel like they can come and seek help if they're needing it, and it doesn't have to be you know where they're experiencing like the worst trauma ever. Like we do, we support people that have experienced a lot of trauma, but we also support people who are just wanting to better themselves and maybe they need a therapist that looks like them or needs a therapist that does other modalities right Outside of the box, because I have clients that come and see me and maybe they're struggling with ADHD or they're struggling with anxiety depression, but maybe they don't want to take medication, with anxiety, depression, but maybe they don't want to take medication, and so neural feedback has been an amazing alternative to help with those symptoms that clients are experiencing without having to go the medication route. Or maybe they're using medication and it's not fully helping them and they can tap into biofeedback or neurofeedback and they're able to experience so much more relief and they're doing amazing, you know, with those different modalities as well.
Speaker 2:I love that right, because, especially, you're not saying we're going to do the traditional, which is you book a session, you come in, you talk about it. We talk about those uncomfortable conversations which a lot of us were afraid because we did not. We didn't get training in regards to how do we broach those conversations, such as racial discrimination the backpack population gets to experience every day. We don't get to take a break and say like, ok, I'm going to shut it down today, I'm just going to go here and then everyone is going to gonna treat me this way. The reality for backpack population is that that is a luxury. So but you're providing groups, um, so that you are creating community, so that they get to get a different template. And and for all of you who are out there, I did try it because I'm afraid of public speaking. I think it's hilarious that I say that a lot now, but I hate actually public speaking. I'm afraid of it. And I was talking to Joy and she was like why don't you come and try neurofeedback? And then after it it was like why don't you lie down on the energy mat, energy man. It was such a beautiful experience that you know. Also, allow me to think outside the box.
Speaker 2:As therapists, you are trained because we all get the same foundation that talk therapy is the way to go. Can you come and talk about it, or you don't want to talk about this. That's because you're resilient, or you're not resilient, resistant to it. You do not want to talk about this when, in reality, when you say I'm creating a place, a space where you can come in, all parts of you can show up and I will have those conversations with you that sometimes we're even afraid to bring up, because am I going to have to share this so that it will make sense to you, or are you having those experiences and you can normalize it for me and validate me on it? Right? And so when you say, like I have, I work with this population, I have this four amazing women who are helping with this, that's exactly what you're doing creating a shared experience where your clients do not have to go and explain what it's like.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:That was heavy. I mean, it sounds like yeah, as soon as you step in. It's like acceptance and welcoming, which is so different than, especially like the general population's idea of mental health, right, like we're still fighting the stigma that we're all old, white crusty dudes. We're gonna like ask about your relationship with your mom and have you like lay down on the couch Like we're so far from that, but like the general pop doesn't know that. Right, because that's still what's portrayed in movies and TV shows and that's the fear, right. So even your entire environment, just it sets the tone from the moment that they either look on your website or step foot through that door so powerful?
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you, thank you. I love what I do here. Like I love the atmosphere, like even my clinicians that work here. One of the clinicians when she started, she's just like every time I come in here I'm and it just feels warm, it feels welcoming. She's worked at other practices and she's like I did not feel this anywhere else that I've worked at and when I come here it's just something different about the energy, the space, what you've created here.
Speaker 3:And so just hearing that from a clinician, hearing that from clients here, and so just hearing that from a clinician, hearing that from clients, like that fills my cup.
Speaker 3:That fills my cup because I think about myself and you know, young joy like what would have drew me in to seeking a therapist, what would have really like filled me up when I walked into a therapist's office or seeked help and I was like, wow, like this is you know I'm I'm a little bougie too, if you can't tell like I like to have a spa atmosphere, I like to go get massages, I like to self-care and to pamper myself, and so I was like that would be amazing if we can give this to people you know that need it the most, if we can provide this for people who need it the most. But we have had men come to our yoga classes as well, but seeing the women in there and just being able to release, to move their body, to feel with their bodies and reconnect with movement, so much of what we go through is held in our body, and so I believe that yoga is a beautiful way to one be able to release but to be able to reconnect as well.
Speaker 1:I love that. What I'm hearing is you're reframing therapy as self-care, and I am so here for that. What I'm hearing is you're reframing therapy as self-care, and I am so here for that. That's amazing. It's amazing. Demure, very demure. We're not trying to be demure. We're not trying to be demure. Yes, we're trying to make therapy. Bougie, oh gosh, I love that. Bougie, oh gosh, I love that.
Speaker 3:Bougie and accessible at the same time. So one thing that we did we applied for a funding grant through Colorado Access and we were awarded it this year actually, and a lot of money, know if I want to say the exact amount, but anyways, we were awarded a lot of money through Colorado Access to be able to provide therapy services to Black birthing, the Black birthing communities, so Black women, and so that's where we were able to tap into the Black Moms groups. We were able to provide and I need to look at the numbers, but I know it's over 200, and it might be way more than that Individual and family therapy services free of cost, the Black Moms Group free of cost, like the massages, yoga, neural feedback for the Black mothers that are part of that program. It's free of cost, yeah, and so that's been amazing. We want to reapply and re-get funding for that. We still are going to be able to provide those services, probably through May of 2026 is where we're tracking at with the budget.
Speaker 2:Nice, that's incredible, right. So the invitation for everyone who's listening. It may not be this demure, but, like, what can you do in order to? I love the question actually that you said, which is what would I need it to go to therapy? We all have those backgrounds, so what is it that you needed, independently of, if you provide play therapy, couples therapy, individual therapy what was it that you needed and how can you attend to that? There's healing in that, by the way. And then, right, like, how are you going to attend to those clients that can relate to you? Yeah, joy.
Speaker 1:I'm curious if we have listeners who are like, yes, I would like to shift practice towards something more like this um, I know, even for our own group, like we've talked about trying to do like integrating, like trauma-informed yoga and like a quiet sensory room where you've done the work. Uh, what? What tips are you willing to share with those that are maybe considering like, okay, I would love to, but like where does one start?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so my start was really writing down my plan, my business plan, and getting very clear about my mission and my vision for my business and how I wanted it to look, before even finding the space Right, and so I knew exactly what I wanted. And then looking into funding. Of course, you know, either saving or borrowing, or getting people to invest right in your vision and your goals that's big because we need money to be able to do it and then just working with some really cool people in the community looking through properties oh my gosh, like when I was looking for the space, I had to go to so many different spaces, but I knew already that I wanted it in Aurora Colorado, that right there, I just felt like this is something that we don't have here in Aurora Colorado and I live here, and so I wanted to make sure I had it in the community where I lived, where I wanted to serve clients, and it's also very close to Denver, by the way. It's centrally located, so people can get here really easily, right off of the highway, and so that was important. So locating a space. And then, once I found the space, being able to delegate because, yeah, I could have made all of these offices into therapist offices and it probably would have been more profitable. But that's not my vision.
Speaker 3:My vision was to be able to offer other services, holistic services at Joy Life Counseling, and for it not to just look like a stuffy therapist office. And so I had a vision and I stuck with it and I didn't get to like incorporate all these things all at once, by the way. It was over time. So I was okay with the business growing over time and the vision coming together over time. We've been in this space for a year and a half now, and so that's when everything kind of came into place and even the therapist like I came in this space of I think it's eight offices and a break room and a reception area, and it was just me, by the way. It was just me and I was like and now I need people and now I need to, you know, and I was okay with taking that risk and investing in my vision, investing in my business, and it panned off. It's working.
Speaker 2:I think that's huge for everyone who's listening. You went to school and got trained and had to be a therapist. What you're describing is the vision that you had while you were like getting trained right. So this is for all of you who are out there when we say you have to invest in your business, in your vision. This is where you sit down and you have to be able to sit down and visualize what is the fail sense that you want in your office, where you want the location to be. How accessible do you want it because of the population that you're targeting? What will that include on it? So they don't teach us that part in school. Because they're training you to go work in agency work, clinic work. They're not preparing you to go work and and be an owner. That's not the mentality, and we had a whole podcast about money and this already right, so go listening to to that podcast.
Speaker 2:But what we're talking about today is when you have in mind a vision of I want to serve this population.
Speaker 2:I want to include all the parts of the individual. While we're talking about healing historical trauma, while we're talking about uncomfortable conversations, while we're providing group supports for moms so that they build community, because we know research has told us even though I hate to use that word research has told us that healing happens in community, right? So for all of you who are listening, what we're hearing is you don't. You don't have to go get in debt to do it all. Please don't do that. But you can start adding things such as it may be where you go and get energy, mad where you go and you know, train in a model that is going to be able to help you when it's not talk therapy, like what are the other things that the population that you are working, that you're working with, might be benefited from. And that's what you're describing today. By the way you're describing it like I just want to go to your quiet, sensory room and hide there.
Speaker 2:But at the same time, you're offering it not only because you're thinking of your client, but now you're taking care of your clinicians. Yeah Right, you want them to not get to burnout. You are taking care of them and modeling something right now so that they take care of themselves while they're providing services, taking care of others. Beautiful concept.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely, joy. I just have to say you are a disruptor of systemic oppression and trauma and I don't know if you see that in the lens that I can see that we are just meeting and being able to hear. Like you're breaking the cycle of therapy, being hard and traumatic and discriminatory, you're breaking the system of employment places, burning clinicians out because you are taking care of them as well. Like you are a disruptor of systemic generational trauma and oppression and I am just in awe. I mean, we could talk for days on massage chairs, but really, joy, what you're doing is unlike anything I've ever seen before and like kudos. Well done, well done.
Speaker 3:Bye. Oh my gosh, that's big to hear. Thank you, please take it in.
Speaker 2:Please take it in Please take it in, as we are at the end of our time together. I think that is Already over.
Speaker 3:I had more. No, I'm messing with you.
Speaker 2:Please come back and talk more, because we do want to learn from you. We need to hear, we need to create spaces to talk about what are others doing and how we can go, because if we stay in the same bubble, the problem in the same bubble is that we don't get to hear and learn from others so that we can also be creative. And that's what you're providing us today the idea of not staying in the same bubble, and for that I agree with Maria. Thank you for disrupting, thank you for being you.
Speaker 3:Oh, thank you guys so much. This was amazing.
Speaker 1:We'll hopefully have you come back and perhaps even by the time this has dropped, I'll have met you and been able to, like, come experience your little wellness room 100%.
Speaker 3:I would love that You're more than welcome and it's a welcoming space for all people, and so we would love that you're more than welcome and it's a welcoming space for all people, and so we would love like it's for all, but we have to try it first.
Speaker 1:Like yes, until we try it first, okay we'll come back listeners with a review of joy lives community.
Speaker 3:I love it. I love it, thank you, so it.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much. Thank you, thank you, listeners, for listening to this podcast, and if you have any questions about Joy, just know that we're going to include her information on the podcast so that you can reach out to her and ask her questions. Pay her for her consultation so that she can share her wisdom. Okay, until next time. Until then, guys, thank you.
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