Jan was born and raised in a small town in the Ottawa Valley. Her mum died by suicide when Jan was 12 years old and Jan spent the next 15 years struggling with her own mental health and addiction issues before finding recovery in 1990.

 

Jan spent the past 35 years working in a variety of positions in the fields of addiction, mental health, HIV and Hepatitis C.

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Jan was the primary care person for her husband and grandparents, gaining extensive life experience in patient advocacy, medical system navigation and end of life issues.  

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Jan is a yoga practitioner, completing her first yoga training in India in 1999. She instructs yoga in a variety of settings and is a firm believer that yoga is an integral component of life in recovery. Jan believes that “every body” is a “yoga body” and strives to ensure her classes are accessible to all.  

Jan’s essay about her life was included in the anthology Embodied Resilience Through Yoga, published in 2020. 

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Jan looks forward to bringing her extensive life experiences to the Board of the DEK Foundation.