A mental health initiative started in the Adelaide Hills is now gaining national attention, with suicide prevention charity R U OK? helping share the concept across Australia.
The ‘Reach Out Posts’ are bollards installed in parks and other public spaces displaying phone numbers for crisis support services including Lifeline, Beyond Blue and 1800RESPECT.
Led by Macclesfield RSL sub-branch president Dennis Oldenhove, the simple idea is designed to help interrupt negative thoughts and encourage people to seek support.
“Sometimes just a simple solution is all that’s needed and a visual prompt of recognisable crisis centers with logos that people identify with is sometimes just enough to break somebody’s thought patterns and maybe prompt them to reach out and get help,” Dennis Oldenhove said.
The project was inspired by his own lived experience as a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, starting when he installed signage at the Macclesfield Anzac Memorial Gardens.
“It started in our shed, we’ve moved production into the local Macclesfield Men’s Shed who have jumped on board to help support us and put them together and as we grow we want to push them out across the state and now we’ve come under the view of R U OK? They saw the promise in the project and they want to help us roll it out across the country,” Oldenhove said.
Since launching in 2023, about 400 of the bollards have been installed in parks, playgrounds and golf courses across South Australia.
When representatives from R U OK? visited Macclesfield during their Conversation Convoy tour in September 2025, they saw the potential for the initiative to be adopted in other communities. A bollard has since travelled with the convoy as an example for towns and groups interested in setting up similar support prompts.
Oldenhove says the project focuses on helplines that are well known and always staffed.
“The reason we used the call centres that we have is that they’re nationally recognised and they are guaranteed to always have somebody at the other end so if somebody calls that crisis number, we’re confident that they’ll actually get to speak to somebody that can help them,” he said.
If you or someone you know needs support, help is available:
Lifeline – 13 11 14
Beyond Blue – 1300 22 4636
1800RESPECT – 1800 737 732
Hear more from Dennis Oldenhove via SoundCloud.
