It seems Joan Scotcher was always destined to be a guardian angel. I know she has been mine on a number of occasions. Her life hasn’t been an easy one but those life experiences only add to the depth of her work. I don’t know if it was her intention to have her life as an example, but it certainly is.

Joan began her journey in ‘caring’ as a mother, having five children in five and a half years. Her natural ability to support and nurture others has transferred into a number of altruistic jobs. Beginning in the 70’s as a counsellor in Sydney’s troubled northern beaches working with drug addicts; to a child abuse centre counselling those that abuse; as a training officer teaching parenting and coping skills to those who were at risk of abusing and neglecting; and then running courses in high schools called
‘Making the Most of Yourself’. Challenging times and challenging clients, all of which Joan approached in her non-judgemental, compassionate and highly practical manner. As Joan says, “If you were born with a belly button then there is something dysfunctional about you and you have a used by date stamped on your bum; only you can’t see it!” In other words we all have problems so live life to the full and touch many lives with care and love and you will be touched too.

Not happy with what she had already accomplished, at 40 Joan then went on to do nursing, furthering her skills even more. But with the children grown and gone, and finding that she was having difficulty coping with a broken marriage; Joan left Sydney and started travelling around Australia. Her personal sojourn.

She found her way to Airlie Beach and into the heart of her future husband, Grant. For the first 4-5 years, Joan and Grant had a yacht charter service and went sailing with tourists everyday. Eventually they bought a farm and converted it into an herb farm. Joan continued to do counselling incorporating rebirthing and reiki also. It could have been an idyllic lifestyle except for two major incidents – the crops, and consequently their financial resources were destroyed twice by cyclones; and Grant had a serious accident that required 360 degree surgery and constant care. He couldn’t sit for three months! Joan believes that this was the start of her stress and the trigger of what would come.

In 1992 they moved to the Sunshine Coast. Joan had a routine mammogram and was given the devastating news that she had grade 3, invasive cancer. With everything else that had transpired she said she just felt numb and exhausted. Survival mode kicked in. She underwent a mastectomy, chemo and radiation all while continuing to work to survive financially. She states, “I didn’t fight the cancer. I haven’t fought it. I researched as much as I could and developed my own survival plan. It was my path, no one else’s and I walked it.” Needless to say Joan survived.

The surgeon who worked on Joan was so impressed that he asked if he could send other cancer patients to her for support. She gained endorsement from the Qld Caner foundation and Joan was a counsellor for four years during their developmental years (Bloom hill).

Joan’s extraordinary skills and empathy as a counsellor and her warmth as a person spread through word of mouth and she was persuaded to become involved in palliative care, helping to support the dying and their families. Joan says that the connection you develop with someone who is dying is pure. All games, manipulation, falseness is stripped away. It is a gift.

Now she has added another feather to her wings, choosing to be involved with ‘Butterfly Kids’ (www.butterflykids.com.au) an organisation that supporting children and teenagers with a disability. When I asked how she became involved she said that it evolved through professional and personal connections and because it was an area she hadn’t delved into.

Joan is an amazing woman. She turned 70 recently and I questioned her about retirement. It took a long time for her to answer and eventually she said, “I don’t know what retirement looks like. What would I be retiring from? This is who I am.” I am relieved to hear this because now more than ever we need guardian angels in the world.