The countdown to this year’s RU OK? Day on September 12 is well and truly on, as the Trust The Signs Tour continues its massive road trip around Australia spreading the word.

Since 2009, RU OK? has been asking the question and encouraging others to do the same, in what has become one of the country’s leading suicide prevention organisations.

Working on the idea that a conversation was enough to save a life, the organisation started by the late Gavin Larkin OAM to honour his late father has gone from strength to strength, raising awareness and much needed funds to continue to educate people to look for the signs and ask the question of those around them.

The Audi Foundation has partnered with RU OK? since 2017, supplying vehicles for the original Conversation Convoys and now the Trust The Signs Tour.

The message is so simple, yet it can and does have life-changing and indeed life saving outcomes. Simply by showing someone you’re interested and that they’re not alone in whatever is troubling them is a massive step in the right direction.

Of course it’s not always easy to ask, and the risk of offending is still a reason many are hesitant to ask the question. For that reason, in 2019, the team is again out on the road touring the country spreading the word and helping people to start that all important conversation. Again behind the wheel of the yellow Audi Q7s, the team are visiting both major metropolitan centres and regional towns, enlisting the support of local communities and identities to continue the conversation.

This year’s focus is, as the name suggests, is Trust The Signs. It’s a way of educating people to know or recognise some of the signs that a friend, colleague or loved one might be struggling with something in their life. Recognising the signs in turn makes it easier to start the conversation.

It’s all about listening to what someone is saying, seeing what they’re doing or knowing what’s going on in their lives that can be the telltale sign. 

If you note a change in someone’s regular behaviour or demeanour – no matter how small – the message from RU OK? is “trust the signs, trust your gut and ask RU OK?”.

The Trust The Signs Tour will continue around the country, ultimately wrapping up on RU OK? Day on Thursday, September 12. But any day of the year is the right time to ask RU OK?