JOEL BLACK, LCSW, earned his master's in social work from Washington University in St. Louis. He's worked for inpatient drug and alcohol facilities, crisis and suicide prevention hotlines, and within the Department of Corrections at state prisons. A devoted practitioner of meditation, Joel has also facilitated mindfulness workshops throughout his career. He lives in Missouri with his wife and eight children. When he's not working, he can often be found riding his mountain bike through the woods.
Joel Black has managed to put words to my feelings, help me see value where before I just saw a mess, and actually enjoy my own thoughts and my own company for the first time in my life. It's so much easier to breathe and think than it is to live on reaction only, and I wish I had this book when I was 15 so I would have known how wonderful it is to be myself. I know for certain that his words in this book will have the same 'chin up, shoulders back' effect on its readers. -- Melissa Cynova, author, Tarot reader, fear eater