Jo Buchanan has been a primary and secondary teacher of children with special needs and on-set tutor of child actors; a clinical hypnotherapist, counsellor and psychotherapist. She has been a keynote speaker at Mind, Body, Spirit festivals and has appeared on television and radio.

Jo also speaks to carers and families affected by mental illness on behalf of SANE Australia. Her handbook for carers, entitled Copping it Sweet addresses the problems faced by those charged with caring for a relative suffering physical or mental infirmity and provides practical coping strategies for those carers.

Jo Buchanan’s book Wings of Madness relates the moving story of how she unearthed the historical truth about mental illness in her family. In June 1990, at the age of 23, her son, Logie winner Miles Buchanan was at the pinnacle of an outstanding career in film, theatre and television. His battle with depression was masked by alcohol and drugs and led to a breakdown and attempts at suicide that became public and brought his career to an end. Jo sought answers to her son’s problems and the process led her to some startling discoveries about her family history in the archives of Kew and Sunbury lunatic asylums.