Jazz Thornton
Jazz Thornton is a New Zealand mental health activist, author, speaker, and filmmaker. Thornton co-founded suicide prevention organisation, Voices of Hope, with eating disorder activist Genevieve Mora. Thornton wrote the books "Stop Surviving Start Fighting", an autobiography on her life and "My Journey Starts Here", a guided journal for improving well-being. The 2020 New Zealand documentary "The Girl on the Bridge" deals with her struggles with mental health. In the documentary, Thornton meditated on losing her friend Jess to suicide. Thornton was declared 2021 Young New Zealander of the Year. Biography. As a teenager, Thornton attempted  suicide 14 times. In 2016, as a film student, Thornton created the viral video Dear Suicidal Me which featured people, including Thornton, who have tried to end their life. The video had more than 80 million views after being covered by international media. In 2017, Thornton's pitch for a documentary won the Doc Edge Doco Pitch competition in a panel of more than 20 industry professionals, including panelists from Australia and the US. She was the youngest ever person to win it. In 2018, Thornton met Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on their visit to New Zealand. In 2019 , Thornton took part in the United Nations' mental health campaign Speak Your Mind and co-hosted the launch in New York. In the same year, Thornton took a photo with a police officer who saved her life from a suicide attempt and wrote an open letter to them. Thornton also urged Kiwis not to be discouraged by suicide figures. "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." Thornton was featured at London museum exhibition on mental health. In 2020, Thornton wanted to search for the stranger who prevented her suicide attempt. Queen Elizabeth II commended Thornton and Genevieve Mora for their work on Voices of Hope. They were also invited by Prince William and Prince Harry to discuss their work at Buckingham Palace. The New Zealand government spent $30,000 on influencers, including Thornton, to post about vocational training. Thornton produced the documentary "Jessica's Tree" on the suicide of her friend Jess. It won gold in a  New York film festival. In February 2021, Thornton said the Ministry of Health silences criticism about New Zealand's mental health. "The mental health system is functioning the same way that it has for so many years, which is a way that is silencing, which is a way that is discrediting of what people are going through. There are a lot of decisions being made in our Ministry [of Health] that does silence people. But my question is, what’s the danger in not talking about it?" Thornton said after the film "The Girl at the Bridge" was released, government -funded mental health organisations that initially supported the project backed out because they couldn't be seen endorsing something critical of the Ministry of Health. Personal life. In 2020, Thornton was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.