shanna whan

CEO, Sober in the Country

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Shanna is from Maules Creek in north western NSW, where she lives on the land with her husband Tim and two blue heelers. Shanna was recently announced the Local Hero for 2022 at the Australian of the Year awards for 2022.

At the age of 40, Shanna Whan was, in her own words, a suicidal alcoholic at breaking point. A series of traumas she experienced as a young jillaroo in remote NSW that led to binge-drinking and a party-girl-persona to ''hide behind'' would end, eventually, in (undiagnosed and untreated) alcohol addiction. After making a full recovery despite endless odds - the rural woman and (now) Local Hero winner of Australian of the Year 2022 made it her life’s work to advocate on behalf of other overlooked demographic of rural and remote Australians facing the same battles.

In 2019 Shanna founded Sober in the Country Ltd with a mission to help her bush peers understand that the simple, inclusive, life-saving message that it should always be 'okay to say no' to a beer is helping to save lives. SITC now has a national reach and reputation as the 'voice for the bush' and currently the bush charity offers peer support, links to resources, powerful broad scale advocacy, education, and straight talk.