Dr. Joy Bracey , author of The Eight Seeds: A Practice for Cultivating a Life Rooted in Self-Love, is a Licensed Professional Counselor and a National Certified Counselor with over twenty years of experience in the addiction field. She serves as the President & CEO of a nonprofit mental health and addiction treatment agency, and as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, teaching self-awareness to master’s degree students in the Summer Principals Academy. Dr. Joy leads self-love support groups, including ones specifically for GLP-1 patients, and she volunteers in her community as a certified suicide prevention trainer.

Dr. Joy teaches self-love, inner critic healing, and mindfulness on social media and in workshops and retreats. She is the host of the podcast The Easy Weigh Out with Dr. Joy Bracey, which is a deep dive into the emotional underpinnings of living with the disease of obesity, losing a tremendous amount of weight, and healing from emotional eating and toxic diet culture.

Dr. Joy has a Master of Education in Counselor Education from the University of New Orleans and a Doctor of Education in Executive Leadership from the University of Holy Cross. She lives in New Orleans, Louisiana, with the two youngest of her four children and her amusing dogs, Benji and Wolley. You can usually find Dr. Joy reading a book, enjoying a live music or theater performance, or tending her garden. Look for her on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok @drjoybracey.