THE PERSON BEHIND THE MAGIC
Joy Clarke, Life '“Growth” Coach
“It all started with a dream. A Dream to create an avenue to be MENTALLY FREE!”
Joy Clarke founded the Joyful Wellness Project LLC (JWP) after working to overcome her own mental health concerns during her junior year of college while attending Kean University. While Joy was attending college she studied psychology, and at times noticed that she was one of the only few Black women or people in many of her classes. She curated her education towards being an aspiring occupational therapist since being intrigued during her childhood by children with disabilities and their various diagnoses. As her awareness continued, Joy also realized that there was limited reinforced educational studies and social media content related to the Black community as well as other marginalized communities surrounding mental health awareness and types of diagnoses. She even inquired to family, friends, and even like-minded individuals she met on why mental health was such a “taboo” to their community when it really encompasses everything we do. She realized individuals just like herself they were struggling to find healthy coping mechanisms from their ingrained traumas from past experiences. Through intense conversations she further discovered that many individuals weren’t given the proper “toolkit” to navigate life because they mainly focused on survival whether that be for themselves or for their family.
While also attending Kean, Joy worked and volunteered in a variety of settings that primarily focused on mental health and education that provided services to primarily children in various communities. When working with undeserved communities it became very apparent that some families’ lacked the knowledge of different types of resources/education that impacted their ability to actively treat and progress the capabilities of their child(ren) compared to the other children in wealthier communities. She began educating families of the types of resources that their child may benefit from with the proper diagnosis and how to further discuss their concerns with other healthcare professionals that were providing them services. As time progressed, she realized that maybe occupational therapy wasn’t her initial calling and sought out to find her right footing to make an impact in the world.
After graduating from Kean University, Joy went on to work in underserved communities with the primary goal to educate children, young adults, and adults with disabilities about how to live a healthier holistic lifestyle. She completed her several trainings courses certifying her to be a Health and Wellness Coach. Through working in various setting Joy realized the necessity of being a health educator and providing educational resources to those in impoverished communities. Joy decided to continue her education in at Rutgers University to get her Master in Public Health with the concentration in Urban-Global Health. Joy’s future goal is to be public health consultant that help creates diversified infrastructures that educates, promotes, and advances the health and well-being of individuals in low-income communities. Joy is committed to utilizing JWP as a catalyst to build an educational platforms to strengthen networking relationships to benefit those in need.
Joyful Wellness Project (JWP) is a community-based organization that focuses on strengthening clients beliefs in a variety of mental health practices such as mindfulness and self-discipline. Founded in May of 2019, by Joy Clarke, she dedicated her time and energy to constructing a space where youth and young adults will see VALUE in themselves and their goals. She primarily serviced clients in the New York/New Jersey tri-state area.
JWP is comprised of five community-based tenets based on the acronym M.E.D.I.C., which stands for Mindfulness, Education, Discipline, Integrity, and Character that is utilized in our coaching, workshops, and media content. We pride ourselves on teaching how to properly goal set, discover success habits, and build self-confidence.
As the organization continues to provide services over the several years, we strive to create an atmosphere for self-investment and confidence building in themselves. Our motto is “For Youth, By Youth, Because of Youth”.
In addition to JWP coaching services and workshops, we produce the Share It All Podcast & Docuseries. The platform was created to provide awareness on mental health, to give people a stage to openly discuss mental health without being stigmatized or bullied. The Share It All Platform encourages positivity and the emphasis of sharing stories as a healing technique to all who are active participants on the platform.