[2] She was educated at Lee Street State School in Carlton where she was inspired by Gerald Murnane who taught her in 4th grade.
[1] She took her undergraduate degree at the University of New England, gaining a BA in psychology and English.
[5] Alongside working as a psychologist, Brett conducted bread-making workshops to earn money to fund visits to the United States to develop her skills in hypnosis for her clinical practice.
[2] Her poems have appeared in literary journals such as Poetry Australia, Island, Luna and Overland and in The Age newspaper as well as in the New Oxford Book of Australian Verse.
[4] Brett worked as a psychotherapist in the oncology unit at the Alfred Hospital for eight years prior to her own diagnosis with ovarian cancer in 1994.