Jelena is a doctor of psychology with over 10 years of research experience in the area of stress, personality and substance abuse. Over the recent years she has become increasingly involved in applied research related to psychological aspects of women's health. Jelena has published a number of research articles in prestigious scientific journals, two encyclopedia chapters on the topics of alcohol and binge drinking and is a member of the Editorial Board of Journal of Addiction Research & Therapy. In addition to her research work, Jelena is also known as an experienced and dedicated teacher having lectured and tutored at universities in London and Brighton for over 10 years. She is currently a Visiting Lecturer at University of Westminster and London South Bank University.

As a firm believer in the importance of communication between the scientific community and the general population, Jelena's commitment to science and education extends beyond the academia. She was a regular contributor to the Brighton & Hove Insight City News, where she wrote articles on a variety of science-related topics in a context relevant to the non-scientific readers. This work gave further boost to her enthusiasm for public engagement and led to developing links with local schools where she is now a regular guest speaker on topics related to children's and adolescents' wellbeing. Being able to share her enthusiasm and enable others to see the relevance of science to their own lives is an extremely creative and rewarding activity and something Jelena is truly passionate about.

Jelena's involvement with INNERNATION Coaching & Development is the next step forward in her increasing commitment to public education. As a co-founder of INNERNATION, Jelena is currently responsible for organizing the community stress management forum Hove StressBusters and other educational programmes. In this role, she has been working alongside complementary practitioners to help raise awareness of a variety of empirically validated approaches to stress and wellbeing, as well as facilitating the dialogue between the mainstream and alternative health practitioners.