The Heart Chain was founded in May 2017 to create a safe and vulnerable platform for people to connect with one another and share their stories. Due to the constant stigma of mental health issues, this is a creative outlet to have a vast range of contributors educating, strengthening and encouraging one another. New Zealand, as a whole, is quite sheltered and uneducated when it comes to mental health. There’s an urgent call in New Zealand – being the highest rate of youth suicide within the OECD countries – Every story, every voice deserves to be heard.

Our mission is to raise awareness and break the stigma of mental health through story-telling. 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 grapple with them and 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. We hope to get funding/grants as well as donations, so that we can start mental health education within New Zealand schools.