How to Find Joy in Difficult Times: A New Guide by Debbie Lucas

After more than 20 years supporting families through trauma, grief, crisis, and major life change, Debbie Lucas knows that a good life is not one without difficulty. Yet when the Glasgow-based social work leader turned coach and author sat down to write her first book, she chose not to focus on resilience or recovery; she chose joy.

At the heart of The Joy Frequency, published on 29 October 2026, is a deceptively simple idea: happiness and joy are not the same thing.

Debbie believes happiness rises and falls with what is happening around us, while joy is something more grounded and steady. It can exist alongside uncertainty, grief, fear, and change, and begins with the relationship people build with themselves.

Written for women who have spent years looking after everyone else and gradually lost touch with themselves, The Joy Frequency explores self-trust, intuition, self-worth, boundaries, people-pleasing, and the everyday choices that shape how life feels.

Through sharing her own experiences, Debbie hopes to create a space for women to reconnect with who they are, give themselves permission to choose themselves and joy without guilt, and begin creating lives that feel more like their own.

The Five Joy Codes and Reconnecting with Yourself

Debbie says: “For me, joy isn’t about pretending life is perfect or feeling happy all the time. After more than two decades working alongside trauma, loss, and adversity, I know life simply doesn’t work like that. Happiness is fleeting, but joy is something steadier. It can sit alongside grief, fear, uncertainty, and change, and that is what makes it so powerful.”

At the centre of the book are Debbie’s five Joy Codes: Reconnect with Yourself, Trust What You Know, Honour Your Worth and Joy, The Joy of Boundaries, and Create from Alignment. Together, they offer women a way to return to themselves without turning personal growth into another rigid programme to complete.

Early reader Satinder Panesar said: “This book feels less like something you simply read and more like a personal conversation you have been invited into.” Another early reader, Gemma, added: “When I’m reading, it feels like I can hear your voice speaking directly to me.”

Debbie concluded: “The one thing I hope readers take from The Joy Frequency is that joy isn’t something waiting for you when life finally settles down or looks perfect on Instagram. It’s something you begin choosing the moment you trust yourself enough to believe your own life is worth showing up for.”

Review copies, high-resolution photography, and further information are available on request, and there is a launch event in Glasgow on Thursday 29 October 2026, 7.00pm. For details, contact Natalie Trice via natalietrice@natalietrice.co.uk.

Further details: debbielucas.me/thejoyfrequency