About The Founder
I'm Real, And I'm Spectacular
The Whisperer Team has been created with love from South Australian entrepreneur Jonathan Hart.
The organisation connects hospitality staff, who already possess great communication skills, with knowledge of a safe, effective and free suicide prevention method.
Common concerns about suicide prevention programs already in the market, is that the knowledge is difficult to retain in moments of crisis.
The Whisperer Team's GLASS EMPTY Suicide Prevention Method, allows anyone to quickly recall peer-reviewed and evidence-based knowledge to SPEAK UP and get someone feeling safe, when they show SIGNS of suicide ideation.
However, it is not just limited to hospitality staff, but anyone with compassion, who can uphold the following values, in a TRICKY conversation around suicide.
Trust
Respect
Integrity
Confidentiality
Kindness
Your Good Self
The seed for this original Method of suicide prevention began in 2017, when Jonathan travelled Australia with his ex-wife and 4 children, filmed some iconic pubs and created the Great Aussie Pubs website.
When COVID hit Australian shores in 2020, he realised the bizarre rules to fight the "deadly virus", which included no drinking standing up and no singing in the pub, would create more mental health problems across Australian communities.
And so the Pub Whisperer was born. An alter ego, to help bar staff and publicans, address the issue of suicide in the community with compassion, but also with a bit of Aussie irreverence.
Traditionally, Aussie's have never taken themself too seriously. And so it was a character that seemed to fit into Australian culture.
And so now, The Pub Whisperer Community, has become a team of pub staff who recognise that while serving alcohol and providing poker machines to patrons can be fun for them, it does come with a darker side. And so if contributing to those problems of addiction, to mask their mental health issues, then providing mental health support is part of the deal too.
If a pub is potentially a part of the problem, contributing to the poor mental health of those who do not know better, and they contribute to the financial profits of their pub, and they do not seek help to address issues of alcohol or gambling addiction, then the pub and its staff ought to be part of the solution too.
Jonathan is a lived-experience survivor, having suffered multiple psychoses, suicide ideation and mental hospital admissions between 2008 and 2021, before being discharged from the medical system in 2024 though his private psychiatrist of 4 years, as no longer having a mental illness and no longer requiring medication.
It's a comeback story and a 1/2 and he hopes that anyone reading this, or who knows someone, suffering with a mental illness or suicide ideation, that their comeback is possible too, with the right help, seeking answers to how they got themselves in a space of unwellness in the first place.
He encourages anyone inspired by his story and who wants to seek change in the suicide prevention space (suicide has risen from 8 to 9 people a day on average in Australia since 2020) and/or be a part of The Whisperer Team, to get in touch via the contact page, so that together we can grow the community and save lives, in places people feeling isolated and suicidal, often go for connection.
Where people are employed for their friendly and compassionate approach.
The organisation connects hospitality staff, who already possess great communication skills, with knowledge of a safe, effective and free suicide prevention method.
Common concerns about suicide prevention programs already in the market, is that the knowledge is difficult to retain in moments of crisis.
The Whisperer Team's GLASS EMPTY Suicide Prevention Method, allows anyone to quickly recall peer-reviewed and evidence-based knowledge to SPEAK UP and get someone feeling safe, when they show SIGNS of suicide ideation.
However, it is not just limited to hospitality staff, but anyone with compassion, who can uphold the following values, in a TRICKY conversation around suicide.
Trust
Respect
Integrity
Confidentiality
Kindness
Your Good Self
The seed for this original Method of suicide prevention began in 2017, when Jonathan travelled Australia with his ex-wife and 4 children, filmed some iconic pubs and created the Great Aussie Pubs website.
When COVID hit Australian shores in 2020, he realised the bizarre rules to fight the "deadly virus", which included no drinking standing up and no singing in the pub, would create more mental health problems across Australian communities.
And so the Pub Whisperer was born. An alter ego, to help bar staff and publicans, address the issue of suicide in the community with compassion, but also with a bit of Aussie irreverence.
Traditionally, Aussie's have never taken themself too seriously. And so it was a character that seemed to fit into Australian culture.
And so now, The Pub Whisperer Community, has become a team of pub staff who recognise that while serving alcohol and providing poker machines to patrons can be fun for them, it does come with a darker side. And so if contributing to those problems of addiction, to mask their mental health issues, then providing mental health support is part of the deal too.
If a pub is potentially a part of the problem, contributing to the poor mental health of those who do not know better, and they contribute to the financial profits of their pub, and they do not seek help to address issues of alcohol or gambling addiction, then the pub and its staff ought to be part of the solution too.
Jonathan is a lived-experience survivor, having suffered multiple psychoses, suicide ideation and mental hospital admissions between 2008 and 2021, before being discharged from the medical system in 2024 though his private psychiatrist of 4 years, as no longer having a mental illness and no longer requiring medication.
It's a comeback story and a 1/2 and he hopes that anyone reading this, or who knows someone, suffering with a mental illness or suicide ideation, that their comeback is possible too, with the right help, seeking answers to how they got themselves in a space of unwellness in the first place.
He encourages anyone inspired by his story and who wants to seek change in the suicide prevention space (suicide has risen from 8 to 9 people a day on average in Australia since 2020) and/or be a part of The Whisperer Team, to get in touch via the contact page, so that together we can grow the community and save lives, in places people feeling isolated and suicidal, often go for connection.
Where people are employed for their friendly and compassionate approach.