Plot Twist

In life, the one thing we can be certain of is that it will never remain linear for long. One minute, everything is as we know it. Next minute - PLOT TWIST - we find ourselves scrambling for a foothold, trying to make sense of the shifting landscape and the changing tides. Sometimes, these deviations from the course can be the shift we needed to push us into our next chapter of life. Others can throw us off balance, send us spiralling into despair or confusion, leaving us stuck in time with no perceivable way out. These plot twists are inevitable. But the good news is, they don’t have to be endings. They’re just new beginnings.
In many ways, this book is about grief. It’s about how we cope when life as we know it changes - whether that’s from the death of a loved one, a job loss, mental health upheaval, relationship breakdown - and all the large and small griefs that accompany difficult periods of change. It’s about how the moments in life that we think are going to break us are often the ones that truly make us. It shows us how to reframe, adapt and move forward in our new realities, with accessible anecdotes and storytelling and thoughtfully applied psychology expertise and advice.

As a therapist with a degree in psychology and a Masters in counselling, Jana has spent the last 15+ years working intensively with grief and trauma and with young people and their families. Her professional life has been a hearty balance between the intensity and depths of roles in Child Protection and at The Coroners Court of Victoria, and as a therapist in private practice, with professional athletes and in schools. Having lost her mother suddenly at the age of 21, Jana transformed her own tragedy into the driving force behind her success. She is an accomplished freelance storyteller, writing stories and features on everything from travel and family life to innovations and technology. Blending her therapeutic and creative skills provided the perfect platform to launch The Curious Life Podcast in 2019. Jana is also the Executive Producer and Host of The Days That Follow, a grief recovery podcast launching at the end of 2022. Jana is the author of Embracing Change (Affirm Press), published in January 2022, which encourages readers to unlock their own potential.