Joanna Clarke-Jones, November 20 1971 – September 1 2025

JOANNA CLARKE-JONES, who has died from glioblastoma aged 53, began her journalistic career at the Camden New Journal in 1995, and went on to become a production editor at the Guardian. In her 40s she became interested in mental health. After training as a counsellor at the Mary Ward Centre in Holborn, she built up a private practice and divided her time between these two kinds of work.

The combination gave her life a new richness. She was an instinctive, empathetic listener who derived satisfaction from supporting others with the personal and emotional problems they brought with them. Had she lived longer, she may well have switched to counselling full-time.

Born in north London in 1971, Joanna was the eldest daughter of Wilfrid Clarke-Jones and Rosemary, née Vining. Her father became a manager in a timber firm, after giving up a first career as a classical singer. Her mother was a secretary at Westfield College in Hampstead. The family rented an attic flat near Hampstead High Street and spent holidays in Broadstairs, where Wilfrid and Rosemary later retired.

Journalism was Joanna’s ambition from childhood. She went to Fitzjohn’s Primary School, as did her younger sister, Lorna, and lifelong friend, Emily,  from the flat downstairs. She learned the cello and piano, was a keen reader and writer, and played tennis at the club where her parents met. On Saturdays she went to a music centre, which led to a place in the London Schools Symphony Orchestra.

Playing the cello with friend and fellow musician Emily

After A-levels at Hampstead School, where I met her, she went to Swansea university. There she studied English and politics, with a particular interest in Victorian women authors including Elizabeth Gaskell.

She took a journalism diploma at Harlow College before getting a job at the CNJ. A well-liked member of the paper’s small staff, she reported on Camden’s Labour-run council in the years leading up to Tony Blair’s victory in the 1997 election. As well as news she wrote restaurant and theatre reviews, interviews and features. She is remembered for her good nature, keen interest in people and events, and snappy prose.

She left to become press officer at a reproductive rights charity, and freelanced for publications including Nursing Times, which sent her on an assignment to Uganda. She began working at the Guardian in 2005, and over two decades worked her way up through sub-editing shifts on Public magazine, to become production editor of the Society section and then a member of the Opinion desk team.

She moved to another upstairs flat, in Haringey. There she had a son, Theo, with Nathan Goulbourne. They later separated but co-parented successfully.

At the seaside with Lorna and Theo

In 2016-17 Joanna was treated for breast cancer, and linked her recovery to a burgeoning interest in mental health and wellbeing. She decided to become a counsellor, and continued online when the pandemic made in-person learning impossible.

Joanna was a loyal, thoughtful person whose closest bonds were formed in childhood, though she made new friends throughout her life. She and Lorna supported each other through the deaths of both parents.

She loved games and dancing, and had a beautiful singing voice, but was often quiet. In an article for the Guardian she described learning to appreciate this side of her personality. Her final solo trip was a meditation retreat in Devon.

During two difficult years of treatment, she showed characteristic determination and affection for those around her.

Joanna is survived by Theo and Lorna

With her family – mum Rosemary, sister Lorna and son Theo

50th birthday celebrations with friends Joana and Emily

Joanna with friends Leigh, Cathy and Ilaria

With Theo a decade ago