After almost losing her life to a twenty-year descent into trauma-related alcohol addiction, quietly and in 'plain sight' of her rural community in 2015 - while keeping up appearances as a successful freelance photographer and journalist and pretending everything was okay -  Shanna recovered and survived against all odds despite having almost no help or support beyond her husband, Tim, and a book.

The couple decided to dedicate their miracle and second chance at life to advocacy and awareness, and to create a safe space for others in rural areas who were lost, afraid, and seeking their own way forward beyond booze.

From extremely humble beginnings as a volunteer who 'got up and went to work ' for five years, full-time, minus a cent of income, Shan relentlessly stayed the course. Over the past decade, that conversation has evolved into a national charity and a small team that's changed and saved countless rural lives.

As Shan herself frequently says, there is 'absolutely nothing special' about her story - but that simply giving a voice to the challenges of life with less or no booze and advocating for others has gone national because it's an issue that literally affects almost every rural family (directly or indirectly) - but it is also a space very few have ever dared to tread.

Over the past decade, Shan has been regularly featured in various media outlets. She travels upon invitation across the country as a keynote speaker, panellist, and now also as a facilitator of workshops, to share a decade of hard-won learnings. (She dedicates 100% of speaker fees directly to the charity as part of the team's income stream.)

She's been a very grateful recipient of various honourifics and awards, including, most recently, becoming a Member of the Order of Australia in 2025 for 'outstanding service to rural health,' the national winner of Australian of the Year 'Local Hero' in 2022, and Marie Claire's Advocate of the Year (also in 2022).

At the age of 50, she finally moved into her first-ever (own) home, a wild little block of land in north-west NSW that is her sanctuary shared with her much-loved ''Timbo'' and a menagerie of beloved animals, including Big Daveo the blue heeler, and Biscuit the Jack Russell and undisputed boss of everyone.

Most people are surprised when they learn that while Shan is a fiercely dedicated professional with a relentless drive and passion for her work, she's also a self-described 'bogan from the bush' with a delightful, unexpected, and irreverent sense of humour and the capacity to disarm even the fiercest and most committed of her fellow-drinkers through a message that has never been about preaching prohibition (her husband is a social drinker!) but showing leaders how to lead and teaching communities how to be socially inclusive for all, through the exceptionally user-friendly, common-sense and straight-talk behind the #OK2SAYNO message and workshops.