The Brisbane-born athlete, then 20, was sent home from the 2019 world championships in South Korea for failing an out-of-competition drug test.
"My face was everywhere on all the headlines and the papers in the media getting social media abuse as well," Jack told AAP.
"It was a very scary experience - not just to myself but for everybody that loves me."
It took more than a year for the Court of Arbitration for Sport to confirm it was an accident that led Jack to ingest the banned substance.
Nonetheless, she was banned for two years.
"It was soul crushing to have my whole world that I knew and the whole world that I had worked for since I was an infant, taken from me," she said.
"It wasn't even like it I felt like it was on hold. I felt like it was completely ripped from me."
That experience has inspired her involvement in a new national campaign by DrinkWise aimed at tackling rising alcohol use by young women.
The Never Have I Ever initiative focuses on the growing tendency for young women to use alcohol to manage emotional strain.
Jack never took to alcohol to cope herself, but understands the pressures that drive compulsive behaviours.
For her, the temptation was to disappear.
"I wanted to lock myself away and isolate myself and look for things that potentially would give me that feeling of being alive again," she said.
"Those kind of habits are what can start those alcohol-abuse situations."
While rates of risky drinking are decreasing among people aged 18 to 24, data suggests it is on the rise for women in that age range.
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the share of young women drinking to risky levels increased from 35 per cent to 40 per cent between 2019 and 2022/23.
Nearly half of young women (47 per cent) who do so say they turn to alcohol to cope with stress, 2025 DrinkWise research found.
"Stress is scary because it's something that you sometimes don't even notice or feel yourself until it becomes too heavy," Jack said.
Despite the setback, Jack continues to swim at the highest level, going on to win two gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
She wants young women to know that seeking support is a better solution to emotional turmoil than alcohol.
The Never Have I Ever campaign will roll out nationally across social media, licensed venues, music streaming and content creator partnerships.
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