About the Author

Born in 1974 and raised in London, Joanna P.A Moore is a BACP qualified and registered therapeutic counsellor since 2007 and runs her own private practice in Fulham. She also has over 18-year experience working in inner-city areas as a youth worker/program manager with young people aged 8 to 21, supporting young people’s development and life skills through informal learning.

Joanna was inspired to write “Love is the Gift” after the death of a very significant and influential person in her life in 2017. Christina was like a second mother to her.

Also living with a rare life-threatening autoimmune condition ‘Addison’s Disease’ since 2009 and having two small children, Joanna felt that there was not enough literature out there to support her own children through the difficult feelings surrounding death. Wanting to create a tool that could help her own children and others, she embarked on creating the beautiful and poetical story about Elana the mermaid.

“I encourage healthy conversation around death and don’t believe that this subject should be just left until the inevitable happens. Death is a part of life and I choose to be part of that discussion with my own children. I want them to be prepared for difficult feelings that they will inevitably need to face one day, and I want them to know that having those feelings is perfectly normal. For me Love is the only true gift in this life, a gift that should be celebrated and shared”