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.

A big shout out to Tamara, Leigh, Elizabeth and the team at Willunga Golf Course in South Australia who are the first Fairway Whisperers.

If you are struggling with suicide distress, a round of golf accompanied with a good conversation can save a life.

And if you're playing a round of golf alone, the team behind the bar at the 19th can have a chat and/or contact a Community Whisperer in the area to be with you.

Simply pick up one of the orange GLASS EMPTY coasters and either deploy the signal (an upturned glass with a coaster on its arse) or hand over a coaster to one of the staff to start the conversation.

Coming into Christmas we are aware that it can be a very tough time of the year for many. And it's a time when there are more lives lost to suicide than any other time of the year.

The team at the Willunga Golf Course care for their patrons. We need more venues like these to show us what community and connection is all about.

Thank you Willunga Golf Course team for being an ear to hear for those during tough times. ⛳ 💙
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#willungagolfcourse #glassempty #thewhispererteam #thefairwaywhisperer #suicideprevention #mentalhealthawareness

In 2023 GLASS EMPTY founder Jono Hart was interviewed by Michael Gray Griffiths from Cafe Locked Out. Catch the conversation here.

In 2025 he was interviewed by the team at Three Little Pigs. Catch that conversation here.

Gratitude for the people who have reached out to support the cause. If you'd like to interview Jono for your podcast get in touch here.

Jono was recently invited onto the Vogliamoci Bene podcast with Adelaide suicide prevention advocate and community leader/connector Mario Corena.

This is the link to the recording: https://omny.fm/shows/vogliamoci-bene/vogliamoci-bene-jono-hart

In this 45-minute chat Jono deep dives on how The GLASS EMPTY Signal, The Whisperer Team and The Pub Whisperer came about, what gold nuggets of wisdom he's learned along the way, where to from here and how can people get involved to bring GLASS EMPTY coasters and/or a Whisperer Team to their part of the world.

More blogs can be found at www.greataussiepubs.com.au/blog

Yesterday I learned that a dear lady had passed away, just last month.

Her name was Sue and she was the publican for the Tumbarumba Hotel in New South Wales. She had battled with suicide ideation on at least one occasion.

In 2020 I jumped in the family car with my 14yo son and traveled across the country from Adelaide to meet her and husband Greg and their awesome team of pub stuff, along with some friendly locals.

They had seen my work on Great Aussie Pubs website and that I was offering a Suicide Prevention Checklist for publicans and bar staff so they knew what sayings to look out for when people were in distress, and we also held a Pubs Supporting People Day, pushing tables together instead of keeping them apart. Essentially disobeying the 1.5m social isolation rules that Governments of the day were trying to pass down.

We did it in order to create more community during those difficult times.

It was something she wanted to do for the town and the pub. A pub that was a bedrock of support during the difficult times of fires and floods in the area in 2019/20.

Sue, Greg and the team supported their community during those tough times. In the same way pubs today can support their community.

When I becomes We, Illness becomes Wellness. And so when someone presents with suicide distress, a conversation can help that person to feel safe again. That is when we can bring wellness back to someone's life.

Motivator Tony Robbins says "There's a reason we suffer - we are focused on ourselves and the human mind likes to fix problems. When you trade expectations for appreciation, you find gratitude. And gratitude and suffering cannot co-exist.

"Noticing the grace that's in your life in some way is what stops us from suffering."

So, when we sit with someone who is experiencing suicide distress and don't try fixing them, you mirror to them what they need to know - that their and your presence is enough and being seen and heard and validated is a part of the healing journey.

If you're a Pub Whisperer or a Community Whisperer and you've shown up to help someone through their distress, then there's something for them to be grateful for. That is you, because you have shown up for them when they needed it. When they see that, they show up for themselves, by the act of being grateful, through noticing something outside of themselves and outside of their suffering and they find gratitude for it. It breaks the cycle and gives them hope.

The Glass Empty Signal, The Whisperer Team and The Pub Whisperer is not just a method, a model and a signal for suicide prevention... it's a movement in social kindness. It's making compassion cool.

With the Aldinga Whisperer Team, we are creating a blueprint for other Whisperer Teams to exist, so that the place people often go to escape the world, the pub, they can find a reason, or hope or something to be grateful about and be supported by people who care. Rather than escape the world in the pub, they can find their voice with a BRAVE conversation... Being Real and Voicing (Their) Emotions where someone supportive can Be Real and Validate (Their) Emotions.

Tonight at the Aldinga Hotel we will host a Pubs Supporting People Event with guest speaker Dan Ward from Project HYPE. If there's a mate you care or are concerned about, bring them along to hear some messages on ways you and they can support better mental health.

This week Jono has been featured in an Adelaide PHN Campaign which offers free suicide prevention training from Blackdog Institute.

Get the free training here.

The hour-long presentation is highly recommended for anyone who is or may be concerned about a friend, family, loved one or colleague.

Read more about Jono's story here. Other real stories of people who have been touched by suicide here.