In a ceremony last last week, the NSW Women of the Year Awards 2026 honour was bestowed on Ms Norman by Member for Murray Helen Dalton.
She was recognised for her focus on wellbeing in the community, including as the founder of Channel 4 Change — a grassroots initiative she built to raise funds for youth mental health services after our community lost people to suicide.
All Channel 4 Change fundraising efforts by Ms Norman allow the Deniliquin Mental Health Awareness Group to quality more locals in mental health first aid training for free.
Ms Norman brings awareness to her charity through completing marathon swims all over the world, usually during the school term breaks so not to disrupt her teaching role at Deniliquin High School.
This was launched when she was approved to swim the English Channel in 2018.
More swims have followed, and in the past few months she’s taken on two more.
In September 2025 she conquered the North Channel - a 34.5km open water crossing between Ireland and Scotland with a completion rate of just 10 per cent.
And earlier this year she attempted to swim New Zealand’s Cook Strait - one of the world’s famed ‘Oceans Seven’ swims, and regarded as one of the toughest open‑water crossings on the planet - specifically to raise money for Deniliquin High School after it was largely destroyed by fire in November 2025.
Despite having to abandon the Cook Straight swim due to illness, Ms Norman said the experience itself reinforces what she hopes young people take from her efforts - when something doesn’t work out, dust yourself off and try again.
“Brenda is one of those people who just gets on with it," Mrs Dalton said.
“Our community was losing people to suicide, and instead of waiting for someone else to fix it, she built something herself. That takes guts.
"She swam 34 kilometres through freezing, dangerous open water — and she did it so people in Deni could get mental health first aid training for free. That is the kind of person Brenda is.
"We lose too many people in our regional communities to suicide.
“Brenda has turned grief into action, and she is genuinely saving lives.
“Murray is proud of you, Brenda. Congratulations.”
Donations to Channel4Change are accepted at https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/channel4change-deniliquinhighschool2026.
• Anyone requiring crisis support can contact Accessline on 1800 800 944, Lifeline Australia on 13 11 14, BeyondBlue on 1300 224 636 or Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800. Resources and pathways to help are also available at www.denimentalhealth.org.au.
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