Elle’s background is in the world of dance. She spent 5 years in higher educational training before returning home to focus on recovery. Prior to this, Elle had been employed as a sales assistant in retail, something she very much enjoyed, particularly working closely with the public to find clothing that made them feel strong, confident and beautiful. After 3 years and 2 hospital admissions, juggling employment with recovery started to take its toll on her health, and Elle made the difficult decision to give up her job to focus all of her energy on getting better. She later returned to retail and voluntarily TA work for a brief period, but found it too overwhelming, that it triggered an unhealthy work/life balance. Once again, she left her employment to put her health first.

Starting Lana’s Basket has allowed Elle to do what she loves best: helping people in a positive way, whilst simultaneously ensuring that her own health remains stable. Becoming self employed has enabled her to do this, and given her the flexibility to limit her work load when her health requires it, (something of great importance to her as the feeling of “letting down” her colleagues was a particularly big trigger). She is extremely passionate about mental health awareness and utilizes both her creativity as a dancer, and her sales experience to design products that she hopes will bring strength and empowerment to others.