The Heart Chain was founded by Shannon Laugesen who had envisioned starting up a project like this for a few years now. It wasn’t until May 2017, when she felt distressed with the way New Zealand, as a whole, was quite sheltered and uneducated when it came to mental health and suicide awareness.
“If we can’t see it, if it’s not tangible and there’s no continuous advocacy raised on the matter, we’re pretty shut off to it.”
Every year in New Zealand, around 500 people die by suicide, not to mention those who attempted suicide, or cases in which they don’t know if that was the ultimate cause. Every suicide affects around 60 people, that’s 30,000 people a year that experience levels of distress which could ultimately put them at higher risk of suicide. There’s an urgent call in New Zealand – being the highest rate of youth suicide within the OECD countries.
Our mission is to raise awareness and break the stigma of mental health through creative expression, whether it be written, visual or audible. We aim to create and nurture an all-inclusive and welcoming community of vibrant, beautiful, intelligent and creative people who share similar experiences and are able to be supported along the way.
Our vision for the future is to create a wide community of people throughout NZ and worldwide, who are open to storytelling and bringing forward fresh, creative content that audiences view as relatable and relevant. Long-term, we hope to start mental health education within New Zealand schools.
The Heart Chain
xx