You can name the pattern.

You still can't stop doing it.

Therapy for self-aware young adults who are tired of people-pleasing, carrying everyone else’s emotions, and repeating family patterns they learned years ago.


In-person therapy in Fayetteville, near Syracuse, with telehealth available in NY, VT and FL.

THERAPY FOR THE ONE EVERYONE COUNTED On  in Fayetteville, near Syracuse

Everything Looks Calm From the Dock

From the outside, you may look steady. You show up, handle what needs handling, and people probably assume you’re doing fine.


But underneath, you may be replaying conversations, second-guessing simple decisions, or feeling guilty every time you say no.


Any of these yours?

  • You say yes when you mean no, then spend two days wishing you hadn’t.
  • You understand exactly why you react the way you do and still can’t stop the reaction.
  • You’re so used to reading everyone else that you’re not always sure what you want.
  • You can be surrounded by people who love you and still feel strangely alone.



Therapy gives us a place to work with what’s happening underneath the surface, not only understand why it’s there.

What Actually Changes

Not overnight. Not perfectly.

But this is what can start to feel different.

Overthinking easing

The loop gets quieter

The 2 a.m. replay of a conversation you had at 4 p.m. gets shorter. Some nights, it doesn't show up at all. The narrator in your head starts lowering the volume


Deciding without polling others

You stop asking three people

You make a decision and do not poll your group chat first. You know what you think before you find out what everyone else thinks.


Saying no and staying steady

You say no and stay standing

You decline something and don't spend the next two days assembling your defense. The conversation with your mother goes badly, and you're still okay afterward.

That is the work. You probably don't need more insight into why you do what you do. You can already explain your patterns in full paragraphs to your friends.


The gap is between what you know and what your body does anyway at 4:55 p.m. on a Sunday. Therapy helps close that gap.

Hi, I'm Joy


I am warm, direct, and interested in the connection between what is happening now and the role you learned to play much earlier.


Before becoming a therapist, I spent 30 years in education. Helping young people make sense of themselves, their relationships, and the expectations surrounding them has been part of my work for a long time.


My work is person-centered and strengths-based, with attention to what your body is reacting to. Depending on what brings you in, I may draw from TIST, parts work, EMDR, Accelerated Resolution Therapy, CBT, or DBT.


I don’t expect one approach to work for everyone.If something isn’t helping, we notice that and find another way in.


More About Joy →

Joy Strickland, LMHC, seated in chair in Fayetteville, NY

Individual therapy for ages 16 and up.

In person in Fayetteville, New York.

Telehealth in New York, Vermont, and Florida.

Ways to Work Together

You don’t need to know which approach fits before you reach out.

We can figure that out together.

Ongoing Therapy

For people-pleasing, family patterns, anxiety, self-doubt, boundaries, and the roles you keep falling back into even when you know better.



We meet regularly and work on both the story you understand and the reactions that still seem to happen before you can stop them.

55- or 90-minute sessions
In person in Fayetteville or by telehealth in NY, VT, and FL

Therapy Intensives

Sometimes you know exactly what keeps getting activated, and you want more room to work with it directly. An intensive gives us a longer block of time when a standard therapy hour feels too small for the work you want to do.


Depending on what we’re working with, I may use Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) or EMDR. We’ll decide together what makes sense for you.


3-hour intensive package
Includes a 60-minute preparation session, 3-hour intensive, and 30-minute follow-up.


Things to Read

Small sailboats and a red-blue dinghy floating on calm blue water at dusk
By Joy Strickland • August 28, 2026
Weekly sessions end right when things get deep. Extended sessions give you room to stay with it. Here is why the format changes the work.
Two coffees drifting apart, showing how the parent and adult child relationship shifts i
By Joy Strickland • July 23, 2026
Your parents are still your parents, but the relationship is supposed to change. On renegotiating it in your twenties, from a Fayetteville therapist.
sun shining among trees; feeling alone among many
By Joy Strickland, LMHC • March 11, 2026
You're doing everything right and still not okay. Therapy for young adults in Fayetteville, NY, and telehealth across New York State.

Therapy in Fayetteville, near Syracuse


I offer in-person sessions in Fayetteville, New York, and telehealth in New York, Vermont, and Florida. If you want to ask a few questions or tell me what has been going on, start with a free 15-minute consultation.