Joanna Cheek M.D.

Joanna Cheek, M.D., is a Canadian psychiatrist, journalist, speaker, researcher, meditation teacher, psychotherapist trained in numerous styles of therapy, and award-winning teacher and associate professor at the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Medicine. She sees mental health struggles as symptoms of a world on fire, hoping to decrease the stigma that is too often misplaced on the individuals who suffer rather than the ailing society around them. She’s the creator and leader of national-award-winning mental health workshops offered to over 20,000 doctors, students, and participants who struggle with their mental health. Her work is featured in the L.A. Times, Toronto Star, CBC, NeoLife, National Post, and Maclean’s, among others. And like so many, she manages a smorgasbord of her own mental health symptoms. She’s spent too much time in silent Buddhist retreats, on Freudian couches, and at tattoo studios. And she credits her mental health to activism and antidepressants, cold water swims and potlucks, adrenaline sports, and farmer’s markets.