About Jenny

I've experienced voices and other sensory distortions from early childhood.

They were my reality. They blended into the shared reality.

I thought this was normal, that everyone had these experiences and they just kept them a secret.

In spite of the chaos contained within, I reached my dream. The dream that surfaced at the age of 3 and became a reality at 20 - when I graduated as a Registered Nurse and moved to Melbourne to work in the paediatric mental health ward.

No one was aware, no one knew about the experiences I was having.

If my anxiety escalated, I would retreat to my grounding place, my place of safety. I would have a sudden urge to go to the bathroom. I would shut the door, and sit focusing on the floor beneath my feet and yes, the solid seat upon which I sat. I sat until feeling settled and grounded once more.

This worked well until outside influences muddled my boundaries and the edges of safety moved, and one night, I had a car accident, I got a minor head injury which bought a collapse of my filters. The head injury itself was of no real consequence but the associated process allowed strangers see into my world.

This was a major tipping point, my dreams were crushed. My perception of reality and my place in it were torn to shreds.

In the weeks that followed, I struggled to keep the voices within the boundaries of my mind.

My secret world was spilling into my everyday life, and it was getting harder to keep the two apart.

Despite the challenges, or perhaps because of them, I found solace in poetry.

Words became my sanctuary, my way of making sense of the world of chaos and confusion, the boundaries constantly blurring.

I started to write, without sense or reason. I wrote, I used words to link myself with the world of shared reality.

For myself, words became a means to understand and articulate my experiences.

Over time, these personal scribbles evolved into something more - a reflection of not just my journey, but the universal human experience of struggle, resilience, and hope.

In my poetry, you'll find echoes of my experiences.

You will find the stories I have accumulated in my long relationship with the mental health industry.

You will sit with me as I cry for my lost dreams.

My poems are a dialogue between the seen and the unseen, the spoken and the unspoken.

Today, I stand not just as a poet but as an advocate for mental health awareness. Through my work, I aim to bridge the gap between the often-misunderstood world of mental illness and the shared human experience.

I believe in the power of words to heal, to connect, and to empower.

Each poem is a step towards understanding, acceptance, and compassion—not just for others, but for myself.

Join me on this journey.

Let's explore the landscape of the mind, the beauty of our imperfections, and the poetry that resides in us all.