You Are The Medicine: The GLASS EMPTY Story - Book Launch

JORDAN DAWSON’S CALL FOR “SAFE PLACES” PROMPTS SOUTH AUSTRALIAN CAMPAIGNER TO ASK: COULD YOUR LOCAL PUB BE ONE?
 
On World Suicide Prevention Day, Jono Hart launches You Are The Medicine: The GLASS EMPTY Story, documenting a grassroots attempt to make everyday community spaces places where people feel safer to talk.
 
10 September 2026 — World Suicide Prevention Day
Just days after Adelaide Crows captain Jordan Dawson spoke publicly about the importance of creating safe places to talk about mental health, South Australian community campaigner Jono Hart is asking a provocative question:
Could your local pub be one?
 
After accepting the AFL Players Association’s Most Courageous Player Award, Dawson spoke openly about his own struggles and the importance of having supportive people around him.
 
“For me it was about creating a safe place within the footy club, within home.”
 
He also spoke about understanding that there would be times when he struggled, that it was OK to feel a certain way, and the importance of talking to people close to him and maintaining ongoing conversations.
 
For Hart, Dawson’s words capture the philosophy behind his own grassroots suicide-prevention initiative, GLASS EMPTY.
 
And on World Suicide Prevention Day, Hart is launching You Are The Medicine: The GLASS EMPTY Story - the book documenting how a simple idea developed into a community experiment aimed at creating more opportunities for human connection.
 
WHAT IF THE PUB COULD BE A SAFE PLACE?
Hart believes Australians already have places where connection happens naturally.
 
The pub is one of them.
 
People sit beside strangers.
They talk.
They share stories.
They notice when someone isn't themselves.
 
But Hart says there is an opportunity to make those ordinary moments of connection more intentional.
 
“Jordan’s words about creating a safe place really struck me,” Hart says. “Because that’s what I’ve been exploring with GLASS EMPTY.”
 
“What would happen if our pubs became places where people felt safer having a real conversation when life wasn’t going so well?”
 
That question led Hart to create the GLASS EMPTY signal: an upturned empty glass with a square orange GLASS EMPTY coaster placed on top.
 
It is designed to create an opportunity for someone to notice another person and start a conversation.
 
Not to diagnose.
Not to fix.
Not to replace professional support.
 
Simply to create an opportunity to notice, ask, listen and connect.
 
FROM A SIMPLE SIGNAL TO A COMMUNITY EXPERIMENT
The new book tells the story of how GLASS EMPTY developed into a grassroots trial across multiple hospitality venues in Aldinga, South Australia involving hospitality venues, thousands of GLASS EMPTY coasters and community members who stepped forward to become Whisperers – providing an opportunity to test whether a simple visual signal could help create more conversations in ordinary community spaces.
 
Whisperers aren't counsellors or psychologists.
 
They're everyday community members prepared to notice when someone may be struggling, listen without judgement and help connect them with appropriate support when needed.
 
“We’re not asking people to become mental-health professionals,” Hart says. “We’re asking them to become more comfortable with being human.”
 
“You don’t need to have all the answers. Sometimes you just need to be brave enough to start the conversation.”
 
WHY A PUB?
Hart says the pub is significant because it is already a place where Australians gather.
 
“We spend a lot of time talking about where people can go when they’re in crisis,” Hart says. “But I’d like us to also think about where people can feel connected before they reach crisis.”
 
“A pub won’t replace a mental-health service. GLASS EMPTY isn’t trying to do that. We’re asking whether the places people already go can become better places for people to notice and support one another.”
 
YOU ARE THE MEDICINE
The title of Hart’s book reflects the philosophy at the heart of GLASS EMPTY.
You Are The Medicine.
 
It doesn’t mean one person can cure another person’s problems.
It means that human connection matters.
A conversation can interrupt isolation.
Being noticed can make someone feel seen.
Listening can create space for someone to speak honestly.
 
And staying connected can help someone take the next step towards appropriate support.
 
Dawson’s message this week - that people need safe places, supportive people and ongoing conversations - has brought that idea into sharp focus for Hart.
 
CHANGING THE NARRATIVE
World Suicide Prevention Day provides an opportunity to challenge the silence and stigma surrounding suicide and encourage communities to have more open conversations with this year’s World Suicide Prevention Day theme being “Changing the Narrative on Suicide” with the call to action “Start the Conversation”.
 
GLASS EMPTY is an attempt to put that message into practice in one of the places Australians already gather – the local pub.
 
Hart believes those conversations shouldn’t happen only in clinical settings.
 
They can happen:
At home.
At the footy club.
At work.
At the local café.
And at the pub.
 
“You don’t have to wait until someone is in crisis before you care about them,” Hart says.
 
“You don’t need to be an expert. You can simply notice someone, ask how they’re going, genuinely listen to the answer and help them connect with support if they need it.”
 
A BOOK LAUNCH WITH A BIGGER PURPOSE
Hart’s World Suicide Prevention Day launch of You Are The Medicine: The GLASS EMPTY Story will take place at the Aldinga Hotel’s beer garden, bringing together people involved in the GLASS EMPTY journey, community members and supporters.
 
The event will explore a simple question:
What would our communities look like if more places felt safe enough for people to talk?
 
For Hart, the answer begins with something remarkably ordinary.
One person noticing another person.
 
“Jordan Dawson reminded us this week how important it is to have somewhere safe to talk,” Hart says. “I want to see more of those places in everyday life.”
 
“Maybe your local pub can be one of them.”
 
BOOK LAUNCH
Aldinga Hotel (beer garden), Aldinga, South Australia
Thursday, September 10, 2026
7pm
Media welcome. Interviews and photographs available.