Author’s painful childhood ‘remixed’ to help others

Lisha Van Nieuwenhove

“I don’t feel like an odd unicorn anymore.”

This is Joe Lyons-Rising describing how he feels after publishing a “self-help” book on mental health and trauma. Self-help is in quotes above because “Pain Remixed” isn’t a self-help book so much as it is part memoir and part therapy session. And “Pain Remixed” is such an easy-going, engaging read, it’s not apparent to the reader that they ought to be doing any self-help at all.

Lyons-Rising wrote “Pain Remixed” to help himself along his life-long journey of surviving profound loss. Both his biological parents died by suicide before Lyons-Rising turned 10. This happened during the 80s, an era that did not appear to offer much in the way of mental health support, and certainly not much for children. Thus, Lyons-Rising describes how he went through much of his childhood and teen years dealing with trauma, grief, depression and anxiety, feeling like the “odd unicorn” mentioned above. This experience, combined with many other life experiences, prompted Lyons-Rising to share an opportunity to offer both hope and helpful advice to those who may feel that they, too, are odd unicorns, and unable to find happiness amongst such adversity.

Joe Lyons-Rising proudly displays his book “Pain Remixed: Navigating Life with Trauma, Grief, Depression, and Anxiety” alongside a vinyl EP of the (almost) same name. Lyons-Rising, an Uxbridge resident, wrote “Pain Remixed” to share his personal exploration of mental health challenges through his own life. All proceeds from both the book and the EP go towards Seasons Centre for Grieving Children. Photo by Lisha Van Nieuwenhove

“In university, I began to realize how fortunate I was, and that I could help others as well as myself,” says Lyons-Rising. “A teacher I had reached out to me after I wrote a paper that was about a man’s death. That teacher really gave me some guidance about what I could achieve with my story.”

Lyons-Rising originally set to writing a memoire, but after sharing it with family, realized that his memoire was “heavy on details,” as he puts it, and he decided to pare it down.

“I wanted my piece to have a positive take away,” says Lyons-Rising. “Now, about half the original memoire is in the book.”

“Pain Remixed” is, as Lyons-Rising writes, not a “doom and gloom book. “Who wants to read a depressing book when you are trying to feel better?” he writes in the introduction.

He also explains the title of the book: “You can’t Rewrite your past, but you can Remix your future.” Hence the title of the book. Lyons-Rising is an active DJ, amateur musician, producer and therapeutic vibration listener who loves to dance. The book’s 15 main chapters are labelled “Record 1, Record 7,” etc., and each has a “title track” that matches the theme of the chapter. Record 2, subtitled “Childhood Grief,” features lines from “The Living Years” by Mike + the Mechanics. Record 10, subtitled “Teen Pain Remixed,” uses “P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)” by Parliament.

“I owe so much to music for its healing properties,” writes Lyons-Rising.

Lyons-Rising isn’t just an author by day and DJ by night, however. He spent many years doing data management for the consumer packaged goods and food service industries, and now owns, along with his wife, Carly, a company called Data Gives Back. Data Gives Back, or DGB, is considered a “B-corp” or a benefit corporation, because it puts “purpose before profit,” says Lyons-Rising. In fact, Lyons-Rising official title at DGB is Founder and Chief Empathy Officer.

The mission statement on DGB’s website explains how it is a social enterprise that “uses revenue generated by helping clients drive financial and employee success through our training and consulting services.” This revenue goes to support grieving children and families, namely at the Seasons Centre for Grieving Children in Barrie. Seasons Centre offers peer-to-peer support for children between the ages of five and 24 who are grieving the death of an immediate family member, and Lyons-Rising is an executive grief ambassador for the centre.

“I know 100 per cent that the type of services the Seasons Centre offers would have made a drastic improvement in how I processed grief,” says Lyons-Rising.

Lyons-Rising is also aware that he is a male who is speaking out about mental health.

“I know I’m being vulnerable, showing emotions, here. I would love for (“Pain Remixed”) to make someone reconsider his life and how he’s maybe dealing with things.”

“Pain Remixed,” which is available at Blue Heron Books, was released on Nov. 2, 2024, and immediately rose to #1 in several mental health categories. In February, a “Pain Remixed” EP was released, featuring Lyons-Rising and Dope Demeanors, on the Scream Soda Records label, described as “a powerful two-track bass house release.

“This EP is more than just music—its a tribute to resilience and transformation.”

All proceeds from both the EP and book go towards Seasons Centre for Grieving Children.

For more on Data Gives Back, visit datagivesback.com