Hannah Collins

Hi, I am Hannah Collins, Writer, Journaler, Author and Workshop Facilitator. I hold an Advanced Diploma in Applied Arts from Whitireia Polytechnic, New Zealand.

Since childhood, I have scribbled stories and poems in notebooks and exercise books all with the dream of becoming a novelist. School wasn’t pleasant, I am dyslexic and with no other explanation, I was labelled disruptive and a slow learner, which made me a target for bullying in the playground. I am the eldest of eight children and while neighbours tended to think we were a Catholic family, apart from a few years attending the local church Sunday School, we weren’t very churchy at all.

Although I always maintained I had a happy childhood in fact my early years were dominated by my paedophile grandfather’s sexual abuse. Keeping his secret took away any sense of trust I had in adults and the traumatic experience led to dysfunctional violent adult relationships and eventually alcoholism and drug addiction. I was a lonely, confused, unhappy child convinced I was unloveable and not wanting to take up space in the world, to becoming a lonely untrusting adult with no boundaries and little idea of how to manage social conventions.

My passion for writing saved me. Journaling became more than a mere recording of my day to day existence. My notebook became the place where I could be myself, where I could tell all my secrets, finally reveal who I was, my imperfections, shortcomings, weaknesses and pain. I was able to unload my suppressed emotions and fears, and for the first time talk honestly about who I was and how I felt about myself, my life, my place in the world.

Writing became the tool of healing, with A.A. and counselling, in my recovery from two decades of alcoholism and drug use. Within the pages of my journal I unravelled and took stock of my life. I shone a light on the darkness I had been hiding and came in time to accept and love myself. I was reunited with my family, my adult children and grandchildren. I reached out to others who shared my story gathering stretch and giving support. I learnt empathy and wisdom, patience and resistance.

I began to write about my life and published collections of poetry and short stories while I was living in Nelson New Zealand, the country of my birth. It was when I moved to Australia and was living with my wife Heather in Sydney’s Inner West, that I published my first book. After owning and operating a seven day a week pet services business for ten years, and on the eve of our retirement, I wrote about judging an intimate relationship with 365 days a year home-based business.

Now settled in country Victoria with our large garden, three Chihuahua and George the cat, I have written and published “Soul Connection’ Addiction-Recover-Sobriety. This is an account of my four weeks in rehab, the foundation of my recovery from years of alcohol and drug abuse. In the book, I talk about the devastation my addiction caused not only to my life but the lives of my sons. It is written from a very personal point of view with brutal honesty and is also a story of forgiveness, reconciliation, love and hope. I am now working on a companion workbook, 'The Hidden Self’ - Healing Trauma, due for publication in 2022.