Why read The Shrieking Cactus?
A newsletter for people who are striving to maintain resiliency while navigating a loved one’s complex mental illness, by healthcare journalist and nature lover, Joy V.
Hi, I’m Joy!
This newsletter is for people who have experienced trauma or acute stress due to having a loved one with severe mental illness. Sometimes it’s the illness that causes the stress/trauma, sometimes it’s the broken system, often it’s both. I discuss these complexities and ways I’ve found resiliency.
I’m a writer and longtime health journalist living in Austin, TX with my ever-tolerant husband, feisty daughter, two portly cats, and a whole bunch of cactus.
My spirit plant is the prickly pear. Perhaps because I am Texan; perhaps because I am the daughter of a difficult mother.
It has been a long, hard journey finding compassion and resilience.
“Your newsletter makes the world a better place.”
— subscriber Anneka F.
What’s included?
Subscribers receive a semi-weekly(ish) newsletter unpacking issues around trauma and mental illness, and hard-earned lessons on overcoming difficult life challenges, told mostly with non-toxic optimism but also occasional blatant pessimism. Nature is a powerful healer, so she comes up a lot, too.
I currently have paid subscriptions turned off.
This newsletter is my labor of love for prickly people. If you enjoy my writing, please support my work and buy me a coffee. ☕️🤎
More about me and my prickly self
I have several close family members with mental illness, plus I’ve had my own struggles. I remain astounded and outraged at how our culture handles these issues. As a health journalist, I dig in and shed light on these problems.
My memoir, How to Heal Your Cactus, was named a finalist in the both the 2022 and 2023 Writers’ League of Texas manuscript contest. It has not been published, and may never be. We’ll see.
Life can be exhilarating yet terrifying, like walking barefoot through a field of blooming prickly pear. I’m trying to make sense of the terror while embracing the sublime.
