With an inquest into Phillip Hohnberg’s suicide now complete there are a few lessons to be learned from the manner of his death at Bloomfield Hospital in 2013, but the great change the family wants to initiate must happen beyond the wards of the institution.

It is a conversation health professionals and other families have tried to start before, but the result has seldom been the frank community dialogue which lingers around the dinner table or is carried on by mates around a barbecue.

Sometimes the topic of suicide is discussed in a few heart-rending statements in the media spotlight, but more often than not it is in hushed tones by family and friends who almost always say how much they regret that they did not see it coming.

It is the conversation which is tragically too late.

And sadly, many more families like the Hohnbergs will be having that conversation unless people like Phillip can find a way to raise their anxieties or depression with family members, mates or a doctor.

There have been many attempts to strip the taboo from the subject by trying to get people to talk about the causes as medical conditions which should no more attract blame or shame than any other illness.

Are You Okay Day? is just one example of a public awareness campaign designed to encourage family and friends to ask that most important and private of questions of someone who you suspect is not.

The Hohnberg family has very publicly opened that conversation again today and in doing so has made it that little bit easier for the next Phillip Hohnberg to say “Well no, I’m not.”