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Mental health campaigner Jazz Thornton urges Kiwis not to be discouraged by suicide figures

Warning: This article discusses suicide.

This is part of a Newshub Q&A series with influential Kiwis who are making their mark on the world. 

A mental health campaigner is urging people not to lose hope after the latest statistics show 685 New Zealanders died by suicide last year -  17 more than the previous year. 

Voices of Hope founder Jazz Thornton told Newshub she was heartbroken, but not surprised when she saw the latest suicide statistics. 

"I was not hugely surprised. I was always hoping and wishing for a different number, but I think anyone working in the advocacy and mental health area knows that there is more likely to be a peak before we see the decrease of the effects of what's going on." 

She said people are asking for help more than ever which, in time, will make a difference. 

The 23-year old says New Zealand is still ahead of other countries when it comes to help and support.

"One of New Zealand's problems is that we have too many helplines and people don't know which ones to call, but lots of other countries have no mental health helplines," Jazz said. 

"I don't think New Zealand understands how far ahead we actually are and now it's just actually using the resources, funding and people to our biggest advantage."

How did you feel when you saw the latest suicide statistics?
 

It was extremely heartbreaking. I think when you see something like that you don't just see a number, you see the hundreds of thousands of people that have been affected by it. 

Do you think New Zealand needs to be doing more?
 

Yes always. I think as a country there are three different areas to it. There is the mental health professional care and that needs an entire structure change because that system is not working.

But the first change needs to start with everyone else. The first change starts with the way that we choose to respond to mental health and suicide, the way that we choose to have conversations. 

Then there are the people who are struggling and they need to be able to reach out, which is so incredibly hard and can only be done well if the other two are in place.

Do you think there is still a stigma around mental health and suicide?
 

Definitely, I think a lot of the stigma comes from the older generation. 

I think that the younger generation are the ones who are talking about it and everyone knows about it but the older generation, especially men,  still refuse to talk.

They don't want to admit that they have mental health problems because they grew up being told that it was weak to talk about. 

Do you think TV shows like 13 Reasons Why have a negative impact on mental health? 
 

There was definitely stuff I didn't agree with or didn't think was necessary, but what you did have was families talking about suicide that had never talked about it before. 

We did see a rise in our statistics when 13 Reasons Why came out and it was immediately pinned on the show, but we don't have the data to know whether it's the cause. 

A TV show doesn't make someone suicidal - it just reveals what's already there. 

Why do you think the youth suicide rate is so high? 
 

When you look at the youth statistics, the majority of those are the young men or your teenage boys and when you look at their role models, they are the generation of 'don't talk about it, it's weak'. 

So I think this is hopefully the final generation of that attitude.

I think our youth feel like they can't speak up to the older generation because of the stigma they have put on mental health. 

Things like domestic violence, child poverty and abuse also play a part.

Do you think bullying is a big part of the country's mental health struggles? 
 

Absolutely, I think both school and workplace bullying is a huge issue in this country. 

I was horrifically bullied through school and it was constantly pushed aside. 

Even when I entered the workplace, I realised bullying doesn't stop. 

Do you think social media is contributing to mental health problems in young people? 
 

Yes, social media is one of the greatest things of our time and also the most damaging things of our time because it means you can never escape. 

These curated highlight reels of people's lives are constantly in your face. There's nothing quite like seeing 20 posts of people smiling and happy and doing all of these things, when you feel like crap and your crying in your bedroom, to make you feel like you're not worth it or to make you feel like you're not good enough. 

It [social media] also makes it a lot easier to bully people. 

How do you feel about the cross-party group of MPs that is working on mental health?
 

It is phenomenal and it shows that mental health doesn't discriminate. To know that many, many New Zealanders are represented by that is fantastic. 

Where to find help and support: 

Newshub.