This week I was interviewed on ABC Radio Adelaide's Drive Show with host Nikolai Beilharz and roving reporter Troy Sincock.

It was an opportunity to share the journey with ABC listeners. We were joined by Mick, one of the Community Whisperers at the Aldinga Whisperer Team too.

Hear a portion of the chat at https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/adelaide-drive/glass-empty/106967284

with Lisa, Nick, Kym and Ed. Recorded, September 2025: here.

On Friday I met up with my local MP, the newly-elected Jenni Mitton member for Mawson, and the Premier's Advocate for Suicide Prevention, Erin Thompson.

I was joined by my fellow Aldinga Whisperer Team member Robyn and we spent around an hour discussing the GLASS EMPTY &The Whisperer Team initiatives.

It was well received and hopefully it can receive some funding to save lives, reduce stigma around speaking up about experiencing suicide distress and bring community together to support people when they're struggling.

At it's heart, it's a people-centric movement that reminds us of the inherent goodness within us all. One that relaxes any judgement when someone indicates they're struggling and bravely steps forward to ask "are you ok?" And if the answer is "no", it's then "are you thinking of suicide".

From there they can be heard, a problem shared can potentially be a problem halved, and they can start seeking and getting the support they need, knowing it's ok, to not be ok.

Helping someone speak up when they're in distress can be life saving.

Between 2020 and 2022, 1 in 6 Australians suffered with suicidal thoughts. The suicide rates rose from, on average, 8 to 9 a day and they remain there, and suicide continues to be the biggest taker of life for men aged 15 to 65 in Australia.

An Australian study presented in 2021 found, on average, 26.9% of those who had completed suicide, had alcohol in their system.

Perhaps, the need to be "deviating from the norm" for progress, as Frank Zappa put it, is a return to strengthening the community.

Perhaps we've become so disconnected by mobile phones and social media, that community and connecting in with it, is becoming a forgotten art...

By having GLASS EMPTY coasters in a local pub, club, cafe, bar or brewery, and a Whisperer Team to support the staff having the conversations and also the patrons who are in distress, we can actively return to community connection and compassion for those doing it tough.

Because, who knows, maybe you might need this type of support too one day?

Over the past 12 months, across 6 venues locally, we've been building something pretty special in the area.

It's a suicide prevention initiative we call GLASS EMPTY & The Whisperer Team.

A signal, education, community connection and people willing to show up for each other.

It's a movement bridging the gap between someone in distress and a caring local.

Why? Because suicide rates continue climbing globally and we believe compassion can literally save lives.

This Tuesday night our team, "The Aldinga Whisperer Team", is doing something new. We'll be at the Aldinga Hotel's front bar, from 6.30pm, for anyone who needs a conversation around their distress or just wants to catch up for some connection.

Just look out for the guy in the Akubra hat. Then come and say g'day.

It's something we're calling "A Seat at the Table".

Because nobody should have to sit alone.

If you're in distress, you can present a GLASS EMPTY Signal coaster to have a confidential conversation around what you're experiencing.

If you're feeling alone, and in need of some company, you can join us as well, and beat some of these winter blues with a beverage and/or meal and a chat

GLASS EMPTY & The Whisperer Team isn't just another suicide prevention program. It's a people-centric movement powered by the inherent goodness in us all.

If you're someone who naturally extends kindness to others, we want you as part of our team.

Get in touch at www.glassempty.org/contact

See you Tuesday night!

This week I met up with the wonderful Allison Emerson, Community Development Officer, from the Christie Downs Community House.

She's a woman who instinctively gets the vision behind GLASS EMPTY & The Whisperer Team.

Understands the mission and sees what it takes to move it forward.

She's a woman with a huge heart for community, to say the least.

So she was excited to purchase a GLASS EMPTY Venue Starter Kit for the Community House, making the Christies Downs' premises the first Community Centre to introduce the GLASS EMPTY Signal coaster.

She says, its so she can pick up on the cues easier, and for someone in suicide distress to be able to communicate they need help or a conversation a little easier, if the words are hard to find.

She left me some beautiful words to reflect on and they're going straight into the case study ...

"Your initiative is going to be as big as you can recruit to make it big.

"Its a people-centric idea heavily reliant on people and the goodness in people.

"When staff don their Pub Whisperer badge or volunteers put on their Community Whisperer badge, it's a reminder that this initiative is happening."

Get involved by messaging us here.

#glassempty #thewhispererteam #thepubwhisperer #suicideprevention #mentalhealthmatters #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealth #australia

Suicide affects all of us in some way. Whether we've lost someone we know to it, had friends or family attempt it or experienced distress ourselves etc.

It was a beautiful experience to be in rooms with so many advocates, lived experience members of the community, researchers, mental health practitioners and people who just give a damn and don't want to see another life lost to it.

Today is the close of the 3-day national Suicide Prevention Australia conference for 2026 and I feel so blessed to have listened and shared, seen and been shown how people are showing up for one another in our communities and in governance.

Thank you to the organisers for putting on the event and the invitation for a lived experience bursary. The invitation to put forward a poster abstract and to contribute to finding solutions together.

This year's theme "United Voices, Brighter Futures" was so apt and for this first-time conference attendee I feel inspired and invigorated by everyone's efforts.

To all whom I crossed paths with, go well, stay in touch if you feel called and I'll hopefully see you at next year's event in Hobart or before.

To the 12 venues that have come in board so far as a Pub Whisperer Venue and proudly feature the GLASS EMPTY coasters and have trained their staff with suicide prevention skills. We salute you!

From April 27 to 29 this year GLASS EMPTY & The Whisperer Team founder, Jono, will attend the Australian Suicide Prevention Conference.

He will be displaying the following poster to delegates from across the country. If you're attending, look out for him in the hat.

This wouldn't be possible were it not for the 12 venues coming on board and every one of The Aldinga Whisperer Team members, past and present. Your support to assist those in suicide distress means the world.

Venues on board include:
Southern Adelaide
Aldinga Hotel
Alma Hotel, Willunga
Victory Hotel, Sellicks Beach
Snapper Point Brewery, Aldinga
Willunga Golf Course
Louis Place, Aldinga Central Shopping Centre

Mt Compass, South Australia
Mt Compass Hotel

Victor Harbor, South Australia
Hotel Victor

Strathalbyn
Victoria Hotel

Victoria
Oaktree Tavern, The Basin

New South Wales
Grong Grong
Royal Hotel (Grongy Pub)

Gerogery
Geregery Hotel (The G-Rodge)

GLASS EMPTY Coasters are now available from The Victory Hotel in Sellicks Beach, South Australia.

If you're struggling and need to chat, visit Matt, The Victory's Pub Whisperer, for a confidential conversation.

The Victory joins other local venues in the southern Adelaide region including Aldinga Hotel, Snapper Point Brewery and the Willunga Golf Course as the trial area for GLASS EMPTY.

#glassempty #glassemptysignal #suicideprevention #mentalhealthawareness #victoryhotel #thewhispererteam #sellicksbeach #greataussiepubs #thepubwhisperer

A quick chat about how people in suicide distress don't know when the pain will go away.