Jane Atkinson spent her childhood in Bristol, where she attended an evangelical, Anglican church. She discovered the power of Jesus to forgive sin and bring transformation as a teenager.
After completing a degree in Soil Science and Biochemistry in Bangor, North Wales, where she worshipped in a Calvinist Chapel, she was a novice with the Anglican Sisters of Charity for four years. There she was introduced to Catholicism and the result was a lasting passion for Theology.
Alongside working as a qualified hospital social worker in Sheffield, she completed a post-graduate diploma in the Theological Understanding of Industrial Society at Hull University and later a Masters in Theology at York St John. Having also completed a post-graduate certificate in Learning and Teaching she took up a lecturing post in Social Work at Sheffield Hallam University.
She is now retired and living in Bristol, where she has enjoyed further theological study at Trinity Theological College.