There’s no doubt Narrabri’s Shanna Whan has been a trailblazer when it comes to ‘cracking open’ a national conversation about the drinking culture in regional Australia.
“Alcohol can isolate people. It brings people together in the bush but if you don’t drink, it can isolate you,” said Shanna.
This week, Shanna attended the NSW Women of the Year Awards ceremony in Sydney as a nominee for the 2020 NSW Regional Woman of the Year Award, a recognition of her tireless work as a rural health advocate.
The NSW Women of the Year Awards recognises role models, trailblazers and unsung heroes, with the regional category specifically celebrating women who have made significant contributions to rural communities.
“I feel very honoured that people took the time to go through the process to nominate me,” said Shanna who is the founder of the charity Sober in the Country.
“And I feel grateful for the SITC community members and national friends of this charity.”
SITC is a health initiative that offers alcohol awareness and support through its online discussion platform.
“Our national charity is based on grassroots education and the social awareness campaign that it’s ‘OK2SAYNO’ to a beer, or to booze, full stop – if that is the choice of an individual,” said Shanna.
“We do this through discussions by rural people for rural people; and we achieve that daily advocacy and awareness by simply speaking the truth in a language that makes sense.
“I’m not the government, I’m a real person with a heartbeat having this conversation,” said Shanna.
“One of the most difficult things for me is that I’m a non-drinker and I’m a non-parent in a country town where almost every social occasion revolves around those two things.
“So I actually feel quite lonely and quite isolated a lot of the time.”
Sadly, the popularity and success of the SITC initiative is an indication that Shanna is not alone when it comes to regional people who feel isolated by their peers’ drinking habits – she is one of many.
“We have a private professionals group where today we have 600 professional rural or ag. based people from around Australia working together in a private or closed group online,” said Shanna.
“People who have decided that they’re not enjoying where alcohol abuse has taken them or they might just want to cut back or they might be very aware that they’re an alcoholic but they’ve never previously felt comfortable sharing and discussing it.
“So we’ve created this unbelievable online family of people who help each other.”
SITC knows no geographical boundaries – it’s about connecting and including people no matter where they live.
“We use social media, we use real conversations to break open difficult conversations, we educate, we have me travelling around Australia for the next six months speaking.”
Shanna is also keen to point out that SITC does not support “demonising” or judging people who do enjoy a couple of beers after work or champagne at the races.
“It’s an inclusive chat,” she said.
“Our little campaign which is, it’s ‘OKAY2SAYNO’ – is just about making our mates aware.
“My husband drinks and I share photos of him on Instagram having a beer and me not having a beer.
“SITC is here for the people who can’t drink or are choosing not to drink and for those whose lives are at risk because they cannot safely drink at all,” said Shanna.
“We’ve been able to crack the code of taking this hard chat far and wide because our style of conversation through this charity is very real.”
From country universities to national television shows, Shanna has got people talking and thinking about alcohol consumption and abuse.
She has bravely worn her heart on her sleeve and shared her own story about her 20-year-battle with alcohol addiction.
“What I am doing is using lived experience to stand up and lead the conversation and to call out the gaps in services and say ‘this is unacceptable’.
“And through real connections and by breaking down stigmas around what this problem looks like in an historically overlooked demographic, we are revealing the underbelly of the depth and breadth of the battle that people all over rural Australia are having when it comes to grog.”
Shanna’s own battle with booze, and her ability to conquer it, is what gives her the courage to fight for help for others and it’s the reason she spends countless hours volunteering for SITC.
In fact, the initiative relies solely on volunteers, Shanna has also been supported by her dedicated husband Tim and SITC mascot and pet dog Fleabag.
As a recovered alcoholic, Shanna knows all too well what it’s like to hit rock bottom which is why she is utterly overcome by the fact that her one-woman initiative, just five years on, is already positively changing lives.
“I do just feel overwhelming amounts of gratitude and I just feel like my survival story gave my life purpose,” said Shanna.
“It makes me feel like the luckiest girl in the world that I was able to be a person that could take the most horrific, humiliating, degrading shame of my life thing and turn it into something positive and powerful that’s literally saving lives.
“This is the stuff that keeps me going.
“I just I feel completely mandated to push on against any adversity, any pushback that I get is literally irrelevant to me because I am so focused on SITC.
“I know the results and I know the stories from around Australia about lives being changed because we’re having a conversation.”
Shanna didn’t take the top gong at Thursday’s awards ceremony but beforehand said – ‘win, draw or lose’ – she will use the public platform that comes with such a prestigious nomination to continue her dogged campaign to close the gaps in the delivery of health services to rural Australians especially when it comes to treatment for alcoholism.
“It’s not about the awards, trophies and shiny objects – nothing is meaningful unless there is change and action and that remains my focus,” said Shanna.
“The barriers and hurdles when it comes to getting accessible relevant services and support to rural people are just endless.
“Sober in the Country is not trying to reinvent the wheel, we just want to recalibrate the wheel for bush conditions.
“We need services that are tailored to rural people.
“All these people are becoming really aware and they’re seeking help and they’re looking at options – and they’re going ‘wow, there’s nowhere to go. I’ve either got to go and see my local GP who I can’t go and see because he’s my cousin’s brothers’ best mate or I’ve got to go to an AA meeting but there are none for 300 kilometres or if there is one, no one is anonymous in the country’.
“The whole premise is to recognise and call out what I believe to be unacceptable gaps in the delivery of services to the men, women, businesses in rural Australia who feed and clothe the rest of Australia.
“I speak to men and women from one end of Australia to the other on a regular basis who thank me and ‘say keep going please’ because we do feel invisible and we can’t get help and we want it.
“As the founder (of SITC), I am not for one nano-second presenting as the solution or answer because that’s a task for multi-billion of dollars and endless teams of gurus.
“But we have got to do better. People giving up booze in the bush deserve support and they’re not getting it.”
