If not us, who. If not now, when.
Scott and Florence Harrod founded the Sam Project in 2016. This is the story of why — and what drives them still.
A problem too important to walk past.
When Scott and Florence looked at what was happening to Australians' mental health — and especially to the very young — the decision was straightforward. Not easy. Straightforward.
The statistics were confronting. Mental illness was affecting more Australians every year. Suicide remained the leading cause of death for young Australians. And the rates among children and adolescents were rising. The system was responding — but not changing. The same approaches, the same results, year after year.
For Scott and Florence, the question wasn't whether someone should do something. It was whether they could live with themselves if that someone wasn't them. If not us, who. If not now, when. It was, as Scott puts it, a no-brainer.
In 2016 they ended their careers, sold everything they owned, and established the Sam Project. Not as a charity at arm's length. As a way of life. They built an expedition truck, hit the road, and haven't stopped since.
From business to farming to the open road — always for the same reason.
Scott is an entrepreneur who built several successful businesses. But it was becoming a single father that changed what he valued most. He realised that presence — genuine, unhurried presence — was what his daughters needed more than anything he could build or earn.
To give them that, he walked away from his business career and became a large-scale farmer on the Liverpool Plains of New South Wales. The move wasn't a retreat — it was a deliberate choice to live by the values he believed in: caring, understanding, and respect for others.
Scott has always seen himself not as a leader but as a member of the team — someone whose job is to help everyone around him be the best they can be. That belief has shaped how he's approached parenting, farming, sport, and now the Sam Project. The goal is always the same. The arena keeps changing.
Born in France, Florence migrated to Australia in 2002. "Right away I felt aligned with the culture and the atmosphere in Australia," she says. "It was like I had come home."
As International Human Resources Manager for a global company, Florence travelled the world. But the relentless pace of that life came at a cost. In 2008 she developed septicaemia — a severe and life-threatening illness that stopped her completely. It was her wake-up call.
It was yoga that helped her find her way back — not just physically, but in terms of how she wanted to live. She left the corporate world, became a professional business coach, and deepened her yoga practice until she became a qualified instructor. Her focus shifted entirely toward helping people: coaching business owners, teaching yoga, volunteering with the elderly.
The Sam Project is the natural extension of all of it — bringing together Florence's professional expertise, her personal experience of illness and recovery, her love of community, and her belief that people are capable of far more than the system gives them credit for.
A life redirected — by illness, by yoga, and by what really matters.
Two becoming one.
Scott and Florence met in 2012 at a wine tasting — serendipitously, as Florence puts it — and knew almost immediately that something important was happening. They married in 2014. The theme of their wedding was "Two Becoming One" — a metaphor they have lived by ever since. The more they invest in their shared life, the more fulfilled they are individually. It is the same belief they bring to community: that caring for each other makes everyone stronger.
When people ask why they sold everything to do this, Scott and Florence find the question genuinely puzzling. They saw a significant problem, one affecting all Australians — especially the young. They had the skills, the commitment, and the will to do something about it. They could not look away. They love people. They care about people. For them, the Sam Project is simply an extension of who they are.
A truck named after a hobbit — and everything that means.
Their expedition truck is called Sam, after the character from The Lord of the Rings. The choice was deliberate. Of all the qualities they would want in a companion on a journey like this, Sam Gamgee has them all: unwavering loyalty, humility, groundedness, and the quiet courage to keep going when the road is hard. Underlying all of it, a selfless love for what truly matters.
"Where there is life, there is hope."
That line from Tolkien is what Scott and Florence want to bring to every community they visit. They have learned that there is one thing people crave above almost everything else: understanding. Understanding of themselves, and understanding from others. And they have learned that the greatest gift you can give someone is time.
By giving up their assets and their former lives to live on the road with Sam, they have committed to exactly that. Understanding. Time. Hope. For as many Australians as they can reach.
To learn more about what the Sam Project is bringing to communities across Australia — or to have Scott and Florence visit yours — get in touch.