Janet Teal Daniel is a Londoner by birth and Welsh by adoption. Her first career was as a Librarian, a springboard for travel and adventure; first to Indonesia as a volunteer, then working for the British Council in Jakarta, Greece and London, promoting the British book trade, the English language and cultural exchange. She later became involved in community arts and social activism.She worked in arts advocacy and managed projects in disadvantaged communities especially for people with learning and physical disabilities. On a photography course in Barry she met Rhys, an artist, Welsh language activist and teacher, and over the past 35 years they have worked on many arts projects together. In the 1990s she retrained as a counsellor and family mediator. She started writing seriously on her return from the Shetland Isles. She has written memoir, poetry, plays and short stories. This is her first published work of memoir.
In 2004, Janet and Ieuan Rhys Daniel left their marital home of twenty-five years in South Wales to live and work in the Shetland Isles. This is the story of their experience and explores themes of attachment, relationships, connection, remoteness and belonging.
“We now look back on that year in Shetland as a watershed. It enabled us to grow and develop as individuals, as a couple and a family. I often thank Calum Andrews for making it possible. It was a remarkable experience and even more appreciated in retrospect.”
A soothmoother or southmouther is anyone who resides south of the Shetlands.
Since 2006 Janet has run a small but successful private practice, counselling from home and working with a range of issues. She particularly enjoys working with couples experiencing difficulties in their relationship. This has brought together her counselling and mediation skills. She has developed professional and personal interest in early attachment theory and how it plays out in adult relationships and its links to neurological research.
