Dungog’s Sarah U’Brien awarded Churchill Fellowship

DUNGOG local Sarah U’Brien is one of the newly-named Australian Churchill Fellows.

The Winston Churchill Trust was established in 1965 to honour the legacy of the former UK Prime Minister.

It is a not-for-profit organisation which gives Australians the chance to travel overseas, to investigate their diverse specialist fields, and to learn new skills.

They then share their results to help their communities.

There were 100 recipients announced this year.

Sarah has a background in disaster resilience and preparedness, which is where she first came across the Churchill Trust.

Her own family’s experiences have set her on a course to explore support for the families of first responders.

She will visit the UK, US and Canada to find out how those countries help these families.

As a former police sergeant, and Fire and Rescue firefighter, Sarah’s husband Matt was diagnosed with PTSD, depression, anxiety and moral injury.

Sarah needed much determination just to access the right professionals who were available.

The issues the family experienced in seeking compensation were a minefield on their own.

Along the way, Sarah realised that the entire family needed support.

And if they did, then other Australian families probably did too.

She is co-founder of the Living Alongside Foundation, aiming to help first responders and the people close to them.

Living Alongside connects families, provides specific resources, and advocates for policy change to recognise the role families play in recovery.

It will soon have a website, with a podcast by Sarah.

Sarah described the Churchill Trust as “an extraordinary and incredible organisation”.

She encourages everyone to look it up, and “read what people are passionate about in our community”.

Locals can follow Sarah’s international findings, which she wants to share far and wide, via the podcast at livingalongside.org.

By Lisa WISEMAN