DONNA Rankin and her husband were expanding their real estate agency in Forster in 2006 when their youngest daughter, Shannon, 11, drowned.
Torn with grief, the couple sold their half of the business and retreated: "To be honest, I spent the first year in bed crying," Mrs Rankin says.
A keen painter when she could snatch time between raising three children and business, Mrs Rankin eventually returned to her easel.
"I remember thinking, 'I don't know if i can do this, life is too painful', but I did and it was a relief to take what was in my brain and heart and put it into a picture," she recalls.
Since then, Mrs Rankin has painted subjects including Tim Winton and Schapelle Corby and been shortlisted multiple times in prestigious art awards, including the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize.
On March 11 she will visit Newcastle as guest speaker at Hunter Women's Business Network. She will focus on the growing success of her social program Heart To Heart, whose training program and manual she developed. Heart to Heart helps disadvantaged youth in her base of Forster, the Hunter and, she hopes, beyond.
"My dream is to see the program rolled out across Australia, reaching as many youth as possible, because we have proven in our area that it works," she says.
Founded in 2008, Heart to Heart is an eight-week arts program run in high schools for "at risk" youth. [It will soon run for the first time in a Forster primary school.] Run by a youth mental health worker, master artist and facilitator, it combines painting and conversation to help kids learn mindfulness techniques to better cope.
"It allows them to share how they are feeling. They realise they are not the only one in school dealing with an issue," Mrs Rankin says.
With her training program available to interested schools, Mrs Rankin has just launched a Go Fund Me page for the Heart to Heart Art Box. Filled with art supplies and mindfulness ideas, it will be given to schools affected by drought and bushfires.
Mrs Rankin said that losing a child could have seen her choose a more destructive path, such is the grief she has faced.
She said her two other children - daughter Holly, also known as indie music star Jack River, and son Reuben - ensured she remained strong.
"I always thought, 'What would Shannon do? I always think she is around me, I always think 'Step up, Donna, be the person she would want you to be.'"
Quietly proud of her program, Mrs Rankin says Shannon "is with me every step."
