How do we support young people through the mental health challenges they face today? In this heartfelt episode of Taboo Talk with Sarah, Sarah sits down with Jono O’Neill, the Senior Pastor at Tailrace Community Church, to discuss the youth mental health crisis, the power of faith and community, and the small but meaningful ways we can make a difference. Jono shares his journey from working with at-risk youth and the justice system to creating preventative, community-driven programs that empower young people before they reach a breaking point. If you're a parent, educator, or someone who wants to see change in the way we support youth, this episode is for you. 💜 You are not alone, and neither are the young people in your life. Together, we can make a difference.
✔️ The Youth Mental Health Crisis – What’s really going on and why statistics are getting worse
✔️ Jono’s Journey – From working in youth justice to helping young people before they reach crisis
✔️ Faith and Mental Health – How they intersect and why faith communities need to be part of the conversation
✔️ The Importance of Safe Spaces – How places like Tailrace provide belonging and support for struggling youth
✔️ What We Can Do – Practical steps parents, youth leaders, and communities can take to support young people
🗣️ “The statistics on youth mental health are terrifying, but numbers don’t tell the full story—real people do.”
🗣️ “Young people need safe spaces where they can be heard, understood, and supported before they reach breaking point.”
🗣️ “Faith and mental health are not opposites—they can work together to bring healing and hope.”
⏱ 00:00 – Welcome & Introduction to Jono O’Neill
⏱ 05:30 – Jono’s Journey: From Youth Work to Faith-Based Leadership
⏱ 12:45 – Understanding the Youth Mental Health Crisis
⏱ 18:10 – The Role of Community in Prevention & Support
⏱ 22:35 – Faith & Mental Health: Do They Align?
⏱ 28:50 – Practical Ways We Can Support Young People
⏱ 33:20 – Final Thoughts: You Are Not Alone
✔️ Tailrace Community Church – Creating safe spaces for young people and families
✔️ Jude’s Café & Tailrace Youth Programs – Supporting youth in practical and meaningful ways
✔️ Mental Health Support Services – If this episode brought up heavy emotions, please reach out:
National Support Services (Australia):
📞 Lifeline Australia – 13 11 14 | Lifeline Online Chat
📞 Beyond Blue – 1300 22 4636 | Beyond Blue Online Chat
📞 Suicide Call Back Service – 1300 659 467 | Suicide Callback Online
📞 Kids Helpline – 1800 55 1800 | Kids Helpline Online
Tasmania-Specific Support:
📞 Access Mental Health Helpline – 1800 332 388 | More Information
📞 Emergency Services – In crisis, call 000
✨ Share this episode with someone who needs to hear it.
📌 Subscribe & leave a review to help us reach more people with these important conversations.
💬 Join the conversation! DM Sarah or connect on social media—your story matters.
📍 Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify & YouTube!
#TabooTalkWithSarah #YouthMentalHealth #FaithAndWellness #SupportOurYouth #CommunityHealing #BreakTheSilence #YouAreNotAlone
Sarah Jordan-Ross (00:01) So welcome back to Taboo Talk with Sarah, the podcast that breaks the silence, fosters hope and tackles this tough stuff so you never feel alone. If you're new here, I'm Sarah. I'm a wife, a mum to three amazing boys, and I've spent 25 years in the health and wellness space as a massage therapist, spa therapist and wellness coach. My family and I live in beautiful Tasmania, and through our own mental health journey, I've become deeply passionate about opening up
real world conversations like the one we're going to have today. This podcast is brought to you in collaboration with the mental wellness company whose products have been a game changer in my family's mental health journey. If you'd like to know more, check out the links in the show notes or reach out. But today, I am so honored to welcome dear friend, pastor and youth advocate, Jono O'Neill. Jono is the senior pastor at, sorry.
Jono (00:55)
Hey.
No, keep going, mate. I interrupted. Keep going.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (01:02)
That's okay. John is the senior pastor at Taylor's Community Church, a space that's become like a second home for my family. My boys and I have been, my boys have been blessed to be part of the youth group and the recent youth camp. And I've seen firsthand the incredible role model John O is for them. He truly sees people and walks alongside them in their journey, no matter where they're at.
In this conversation, we're diving into a topic close to both of our hearts, youth mental health. We'll explore the biggest mental health challenges young people face today, how faith, community and connection play a role in mental wellness and the practical ways we can help support young people better. John, I am so, so grateful to have you here. You've been
instrumental in helping our family get to a good space. So thank you, thank you for joining us here to get to talk about the amazing work that you do. So my first question for you, what inspired you to dedicate your life to working with young people? What's the heart behind your mission as both a pastor and a youth advocate?
Jono (02:24)
Great question. First of all, thanks. You're way too calm with your words, by the way
Sarah Jordan-Ross (02:25)
you
Nah.
I enjoyed doing life with you.
Jono (02:33)
Yeah, it's
good fun, your family's great. So the question, what's the big idea, like what made me get started and that wasn't it? That was the question. Yeah, so suppose part of my story is that I went to uni, I did a health degree and I thought I wanted to go on and become a physio. I finished my bachelor's and then I sort of, before going on and doing my master's, I sort of stumbled into doing youth work and so I was working in...
Sarah Jordan-Ross (02:40)
Yeah. Yes.
Jono (02:59)
schools and outside of schools part of like a national program trying to help young people either be engaged in education or employment and overcome some of those barriers that stopped it. And then about a decade later I found myself working in a prison. Tasmania's only got one prison and so I was working down there in a health and wellbeing sport and rec type of role and I just loved it. I had so much fun. But I suppose over time I became
I just wrestled with the justice system, I suppose. I was sick of seeing these young kids, these young boys, roll into the prison that I worked with 10 years prior as a youth worker and there being this moment of recognition with one another. I suppose every night as I go home, you just come face to face with this question of how does rehabilitation happen for these guys and girls? How does...
a better life that's not behind bars, that's not plagued by recidivism. What does that all look like? And I think there's probably like one story that sort of captured it really well in that there were these two guys that would often hang out in the prison, you'd find us doing pushups together in their cells when we're doing a boot camp or having a hit of tennis or cricket or footy or whatever. And part of my role is that we brought in different sporting clubs in.
playing as the inmates and just promote health and well-being in an active lifestyle. And these guys, they just sort of caught fire with the idea, the fact that their local hero from the local football club would come down into the prison and hang out with them just blew their mind. And so one of these guys, started enrolling in a Cert III and a Cert IV in fitness and his goal was to go, once he got outside, to sort of restart his life based around sport. And he did that, and he did it really, really well. And there was this other guy,
Sarah Jordan-Ross (04:51)
Amazing.
Jono (04:52)
And he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shared type of thing, I suppose. And the guards were quite empathetic towards him. They felt like he was one of the only people in the prison that was genuinely innocent. He'd simply been the fall guy for people that were more powerful, had been pretty deceitful towards him, I suppose. And this young man, his time for release came and went, and then word came back that five days later that he had passed away.
And I just remember just being so heartbroken and awestruck. It's just the thought that this young man, what chance did he have in life? His whole life had been led by people that had no love for him. He just lived an absolutely miserable life. And so I think contrasting those two stories and the outcomes of those two young men sort of led me to leave that prison environment because I wanted to work on the other side of the fence to try help as many young people live a healthy and free life.
without ever getting tangled up in that awful system.
That's the long winded answer, I'm sorry Sarah. That's kind of the idea.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (05:57)
No, that was that was a great. Yeah, that was
a great answer. And it leads into another question. So now you're on that other side of the fence. Doing what you can to make a difference. So do you want to talk a little bit about some of the initiatives that you've come up with and. Yeah, what you see as being the big struggles.
Jono (06:10)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (06:28)
and
what you're trying to do about it.
Jono (06:31)
Yeah, great question. So what are we trying to do? So in our local context, we've sort of got an umbrella of programs or environments that is like a school program and a welfare program in sporting clubs and like a social space or a youth group and some stuff with hospitality employment. But I think the big idea really is much more of like a grassroots idea.
I think so often with mental health we think of it through this biomedical model and the biomedical model has been such a blessing, there's such a need for doctors and psychologists and psychiatrists and medicine and all the rest of it. But it becomes so clogged up if that end point is the only part on the spectrum that engages with wellbeing. And I think that's part of the reason why we've got a bit of a youth wellbeing crisis in that there's so much attention given to those later stages.
and so little attention giving to creating healthy environments where young people can sort of grow and strengthen and get healthier without ever ending up in that later stage. So I think that's kind of the big idea of what we're trying to do is whilst my heart is to see less young people end up in prison or environments like that, we're not necessarily working in a youth justice space but rather in a much earlier stream like preventative health promotion.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (07:38)
Thanks
Jono (07:55)
general well-being, health of society type of idea. Yeah, that's the idea.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (08:01)
which
is great because then we start to make a difference and we don't see as many people ending up at that end. And that's a struggle that's been with healthcare in general. We have such a focus on cure and we're so great with acute problems because there's a pill for that, there's surgery for that, there's immediate stuff we can do, but...
long-term chronic stuff, we're not so great with that, and prevention.
We don't start there, we don't get at the root causes and it's so great to see that you are actually trying to get to these kids before they end up needing that long term help, needing the medication, needing all of those interventions. If we can start getting there and getting to the root cause of some of these problems, we might stand a better chance of making a difference. Yeah.
Jono (08:47)
Yep
Totally, yeah, 100%. There's
this fable or like a parable in health prevention and promotion circles that the man's by a river and he sees like a body floating down the stream next to him. So he dives in and with all of his strength, all of his might, wrestles this person out of the current up onto the shore, does CPR and eventually this man comes back to life. But just as he's there sitting exhausted on the river bank, he sees another body and so he jumps back in the stream and he...
processes repeated and then again and again and again and this man, this hero of the story, the whole time is thinking, if only I could just take a breath and just get upstream and I could find out why all these people are falling in the river and just erect a sign or a fence or something to warn people of the danger. I think so much of the way we think of community and society can learn a lot from that parable. think so much of the wellbeing can be traced back to
feelings of anxiousness and depression, both in the clinical sense, but also in the general sense that stem from other issues of just feeling alone and just feeling overwhelmed and just needing a healthy environment just to sort of ride the wave through. So I think there's a lot of wisdom in that. And I love the way that you're feeling engaged in that space too, Sarah. So I know that it's a kindred heart in that one.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (10:22)
I've long believed if we can get at what's causing the problem then we stand a better chance of fixing it down the track. There's no point putting band-aid solutions on gaping wounds. We need to stitch the wound up. So, or better yet, stop them getting hurt in the first place. And that brings to another question. And I think
Jono (10:43)
Yeah, it's true.
Mm-hmm.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (10:51)
Community is really, really important. And I know you do too. And the Tower Race is creating spaces that create that. I know it's like a second home for my family and has been for about 10 years now with Kids Paradise and a few other programs as well as the church. What difference do you think having that safe environment for young people and how faith in a supportive community like ours?
Jono (11:19)
Hmm.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (11:21)
can help them navigate
some of those mental health struggles.
Jono (11:24)
Great question. I think that we all need safe environments where we can breathe and relax and come back down. Because only when we're in that non-heaten state that we can really grow or work through the things or process the things that we need to process that we don't carry around all this baggage or this scar tissue. So in some of the environments we try
we try to these middle spaces between sort of the faith and the non-faith community because I think that all those big conversations in life are somewhat of a spiritual conversation. So when you're thinking about for a young person, what are you gonna do when you leave school? You're asking a question about identity and purpose and life direction and like who they're wired to be. I consider all that to be somewhat of a spiritual conversation and I'm not sure if our...
Western secular society does a very good job of creating those sort of rich environments where people, regardless of their faith sort of opinion, can engage in those types of deeper conversations which really get to the core of who you are. And I think we miss out. And my experience has been that young people are actually really thirsty, really hungry for those kinds of conversations. Like we've got this idea that young kids...
They don't want to talk about that at all. They just want to be left alone. They just want to talk about skateboarding and vaping and TikTok and whatever else. But our research, like in-house, says the opposite. says that they're desperate to have those conversations. They just want to do it in an environment where they feel safe, where they don't feel threatened. And from what I've observed is people start to relax into and ask those questions and explore those big questions. Like, who do I want to be? Like, how do I want to live? Like, what are my values?
They really come alive because they can feel themselves growing into a person that they wish to become. It's a really exciting journey that they go on.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (13:22)
I've loved watching the difference that being part of youth group has made to Harrison, particularly when he was going through a really rough time with being diagnosed with MS and the changes that that made for him. And we've already touched on it, but some people feel like that mental health space and faith don't always align. But how would you respond to that? And what do think we can do to bridge that gap for those that are?
struggling and unsure where their faith fits in, also with having that safe space for them to explore that. Because like you said, they come alive when they are exploring those deeper conversations. And sometimes that's what they need is that safe space to have those conversations. And I know that was part of what got me to start this podcast was I've seen people struggling.
Jono (14:15)
Mmm.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (14:21)
with so many issues but it's like they're not the only ones but so often they feel like they're the only one but then they have that conversation and somebody else goes hey yeah me too or that they finally feel seen and heard in that space
Jono (14:27)
Mm.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, no, really good question again. I think there's a lot of nuance to this question because the genesis of that is do faith and mental health overlap? I think the answer is yes and no. I think it's no in the sense that sometimes we get this idea in faith circles that it's formulaic, like A plus B equals C. if you've got...
poor mental health, must mean that there's something wrong with you or that you've got a wrong belief or not enough faith or wrong thought or something. And I think that's really damaging narrative and really unhealthy. And likewise, the flip side of that related to it is this unhealthy sort of prosperity idea that it's always up and to the right on a graph, like always up and to the right, always progressing, always more successful, more healthy.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (15:14)
Yes.
Jono (15:32)
But the biblical story is so much richer than that. Like you look at people like Elijah and they went through this crisis of well-being. He felt suicidal and this is a great man of faith. And so quite clearly there's more to the topic than just a simple formula. But I do think that there is some sort of overlap because I think that there's an inner peace that we're all searching for. I think that there's an anxiousness that we're just desperately tired of and that we wanna be rid of.
And I think that we find that true peace when we explore and discover some really healthy truth in all those areas. But I think that's a long journey and I think that's a slow burn. And that's why I think that the, it's far healthy to think of in terms of faith and wellbeing as being like a journey that you walk alongside together as opposed to a quick fix or a 10 step program or this model. But rather trying to create environments where people can sort of journey it.
Does that make sense?
Sarah Jordan-Ross (16:33)
Yeah, but it doesn't need to be an either or thing. It's more of a both and kind of conversation. Yeah. And yeah, and it's never as simple as we'd like to make it. It's not cut and dried. There's lots of in all aspects of wellness. There's lots of those gray areas. It's not.
Jono (16:42)
Yeah. Yeah. Would you agree?
Sarah Jordan-Ross (17:00)
one size fits all, it's not one solution for everybody. It's not, this thing works for them, so it'll work for everybody. And we need to take that more individualistic approach and figure out what it is that's going on. Even for people who are going through similar experiences, because they come from different backgrounds, they're gonna see it different ways. And we need to take that into account too.
Jono (17:19)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, totally. Life is just so dynamic. Things happen. Not every season looks easy. Sometimes it's the easy seasons that we come undone in. Life's a funny thing.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (17:30)
Yeah! Yeah! No!
Yeah, because sometimes we get used to the struggle, get used to things being a certain way. And when we're in those periods where things are easy, it's like, hang on, I'm uncomfortable here because I'm waiting for that other shoe to drop. What's gonna, what's gonna happen? Whereas, yeah, if you've had lots of challenges and lots of problems, it's like, yeah, I know how to operate in that space. So it's funny that the
Jono (18:01)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (18:11)
that being calm and peaceful can be the one that's uncomfortable.
Jono (18:15)
Yeah, yeah, it's a funny old world.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (18:19)
Yes! That's what makes it fun!
Jono (18:22)
Yeah, certainly.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (18:24)
And
But do you think there is any common denominator for some of the challenges that you see our kids going through? What do you think are the big ones? And why do you think they're struggling so much now? Some of the stats around youth mental health are just scary for want of a better word. What do you think is going on?
Jono (18:50)
That's a really big question. Yes, that's a pretty horrific, like here in Australia, it's like one in four will struggle with mental health, ill health, one in 10 will consider self harm, like one in 13 will attend self harm, it's like horrific. And that's not even getting it like the truancy stats with schools or like the abuse in homes or the drug and alcohol or.
all eating disorders, there's all sorts of ways that can measure it and none of them are pretty at the moment. What do I think is going on? that's horrific. What do I think is going on underneath that? I think it's a really big question. that part of it's got to do with the way that we think of ourselves within community, think of ourselves in the way that we're just bombarded with ideas and messages.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (19:20)
They're all kind of horrible.
Jono (19:44)
Let's speak to who we are all the time. I know that social media is an easy one to pick on, I'm sure that's partly to blame. know that some of the things that have been happening in homes is an easy one to pick on, I'm sure that's partly to blame. I just think it's a complex web, I don't think it's a simple solution. It's just wild. That's a very vague answer, I don't think there's anything reasonable there. What do you think Sarah, what do you think is going on with it?
Sarah Jordan-Ross (20:11)
think it's part of it. And I've just been rereading a book called The Impossible Just Takes Longer. some of the stats that he mentioned in that, they were horrifying then. And that book was written more than 20 years ago. So it's only gotten worse. But some of the things that I'd I think part of it is that we have lost that sense of community and connection.
Jono (20:29)
Yeah.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (20:41)
We're very much an individualistic society and the, can do it all myself, I've got to have it all together. And so often we wear that mask of, I've got it all together. We don't have anywhere where we can drop that and just be who we are and where we're at. But we also don't have those supports in our lives that we can go, actually, I'm not okay. And work through it with someone else.
I remember when I was a kid and I'm a bit older than you. But there was a park across the street and I used to be able to go over and play there whenever, but we had to stay between these two particular trees. And I figured out as an adult, it was because as long as we were within that space, either my mum could see us or my friend that I was playing with who lived down the road, their mum could see us.
And if mum had to go out and like go down the street and do something, the neighbours would watch us. Unfortunately now.
So often we don't even know our neighbours for more than a passing, hey, as you drive out the driveway. And certainly wouldn't trust our kids with them. Because we don't know them well enough to do that. And I think that's part of the problem is that we've lost that community and that connectedness where we help each other, where we see where somebody's struggling and we come alongside them and helping the ways that they need because we know them, we've been doing life with them.
and I think yeah that's so many we feel like we're everything all alone and we were never meant to carry those kind of loads and like now you've got two parents who are working full-time you've got all these other pressures as well and it's just it's hard not that it hasn't always been hard but I think it's there's a different hard now
Jono (22:23)
Hmm Hmm
Yeah, certainly not easy.
No, I think people's lives are just chaotic as well. Like it's just such a fast pace. oh yeah, so many of young people, they have so little structure in terms of like screens and sleep and food and just routines. It's just, it's chaotic. It makes it tricky.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (23:13)
It does. And while we'd love to be able to fix it all, we don't have that magic wand.
Jono (23:22)
Sorry.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (23:23)
But what do you think that parents, youth leaders, even young people themselves, what do think we could do to start making a difference in what we're seeing with youth mental health?
Jono (23:36)
I think people try, I really do. I think people are really caring about well-being and mental health. I don't think there's many people that just dismiss it as just being like a nonsense issue. So I think people try really hard and they care deeply about it because they see the way that it impacts others perhaps because it relates to their own stories. In terms of what we can do, I just think it would be great if...
people understood that they've got more power to affect change than what they realize. I think there's such a deferring to that biomedical model. And again, I love that. I'm not trying to trash that at all. It's more just trying to empower the grassroots, the families, the schools, the communities that the way that you construct life can bring health and it can bring wellness without you even realizing it.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (24:17)
No.
Jono (24:33)
And so not everything has to get to this stage where someone uses the word, like, I'm feeling a bit anxious or I'm just feeling low or the boys at the football club will say, I'm feeling flat and it being a trigger for a doctor type thing. But I just wish that families could understand that there's so much that they can do just the way that they sit down and do a family meal together every night. Just simple habits and rhythms and routines like that.
the way that they talk to one another, the way that they practice doing conflict with one another, the way that they speak words of life to one another, the way in which they have those healthy boundaries around bedtime and sleep and social media use. You can create a really healthy ecosystem just through the habits of your life which can bring wellness to someone. It can go a long way at least to bringing wellness to someone. But I think we neglect that partly because
we defer to the biomedical model and we don't realise the power that's within our own homes and communities. I think also when we recognise the power that is there, it brings with it like a responsibility to do something because all of sudden perhaps I need to, as the parent, I need to go and work on my, do my relationships counselling. So I can work through my own baggage so that it's a healthy environment so my team is in a healthier spot.
So I think people genuinely care and they're genuinely trying. It's just tiring and life's busy and it's just not always front of mind. So I think it's just a bunch of those factors all rolled into one. That's what I would say. Does anything stick to you as being particularly true or particularly untrue?
Sarah Jordan-Ross (26:14)
have to say I agree with you yeah
I think it's a lot of ways we need to be that change that we want to see. also, yeah, it's those simple routines and little things can little changes can make a big difference long term. But there's a reason sleep deprivation is used as a means of torture because it causes long term problems. We're seeing so many kids who they're not getting enough sleep and neither are their parents.
So it's having that knock-on effect. And if we're not sleeping, we're not eating well, we're not listening to our bodies, that's when we start having problems. And a lot of times...
We get really good at stuffing down those emotions and not dealing with them to the point that we don't even know what they are. And you can't work through a problem if you don't know what it is. So, yeah, so everything you said resonates really well.
Jono (27:18)
Hmm
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that last point about the emotions one, I think that's true of so many, but I think there's a bunch of people that are the flip side of that. They spend so much time in their emotional world that they need some people to come along and help them with some just, you know, mental stability, some common sense, just a stable ground, I suppose. Yeah. We all need help for sure. Yeah.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (27:26)
There's a reason we talk.
Yes. And that's the thing we all need help and we need to help each other where we can. Because I think you said it, we have that responsibility to and we have that power to and this quote, it? With great power comes great responsibility, but also the flip side of that with great responsibility comes great power. So when you start taking responsibility for for what's going on, that's when you can start.
Jono (27:59)
Yeah.
Mm-mm.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (28:20)
making changes both for your life and for others. if anybody wanted to learn more about the incredible work that you're doing, how can they get in touch with you?
Jono (28:35)
Oh sure, people always get ascribed way too much credit. We've got such a good team here. We call it Jude's Village because it really does take a village to affect change but I understand what you're saying. totally understand what you're saying. probably the team. 100%. Like this is a beautiful picture of in our youth group we've had this, normally when you think of youth group you think of like teens and young adults type thing. Young adults like
Sarah Jordan-Ross (28:45)
Yes.
Yeah, when I say you, actually mean the village that is the Tauras, the team that. Yeah. Yeah.
Jono (29:04)
serving and helping teens, but we've had these beautiful grandmas coming along and just sitting by the door and welcoming these kids. So these are women in their 80s or 50s or whatever else, and it's just so beautiful. You really do need a village. Where can people find me? I think the easiest way is probably just to go through the Jude's website, so Jude's Cafe. Just a quick Google search and you'll find that. And then through there, you'll find our impact reports.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (29:18)
Yes.
Jono (29:30)
contact form and all the rest of that. That's probably the easiest way. I'm not on socials very much anymore so if you could reach out to me there but I'll probably miss it. But otherwise email is a great one so my email address is Jono at towelrace.com.au so that's Jono, J-O-N-O at towelrace, T-A-I-L-R-A-C-E dot com dot au. So those have been the two best ways. We're normally pretty prompt through both of those.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (29:55)
And we'll put those in the show notes too, so make it nice and easy for people.
Jono (30:01)
Sounds good.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (30:05)
I don't have any more questions for you. Although, well, no more specific questions that I prepared. I could stay here and talk to you all day, but you've got stuff to do and so do I. But thank you so much for coming on today and sharing your insights. I'm so grateful for the role you play in our community and for the difference that you've made to my voice.
Jono (30:09)
Yeah
Yeah.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (30:35)
When I told them that I was interviewing you today, they got all excited. So, it's like, yay, Jono's coming on. Yeah.
Jono (30:42)
They're red bags. Thanks, Sarah. You're too kind. I
love the courage that you've got to be able to start something new like this. I'm sure it will go incredibly well. So congratulations and thank you.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (30:56)
Thank you. Yeah, part of the idea was just to start those conversations because I think we'll be able to solve a lot more problems if we just actually talk about them and find much more common ground if we just keep talking. So for our listeners, I hope this sparked some new ideas has offered you hope and reminded you that there are lots of ways that you can support the young people in your life. You're not alone. Neither are they.
Jono (31:08)
Yeah.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (31:26)
If you want connect with John O'Ale or learn more about the work happening at Towerace Community Church, check out the show notes. The links will be in there. And if this episode resonated with you, please subscribe to Taboo Talk with Sarah on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube. Maybe leave me a review because your feedback helps us to reach more people. It also gives me an idea of the conversations you want me to have. So if there's anybody that you think I really need to talk to.
please let me know and share this episode with someone you think needs to hear it. until next time, take care of yourselves, take care of each other. Remember your story matters, so please keep telling it and we're all in this together. And I will see you in the next episode of Taboo Talk with Sarah.
and I'll see you next week, jono
Jono (32:22)
Right jono thanks so much.