Aftershock 2025 attendees open up about loss through HeartSupport
Aftershock Festival 2025 hit Sacramento, California with the impact of massive bands like Blink-182, Korn, Deftones, Bring Me The Horizon, Rob Zombie, Good Charlotte, Bad Omens — and the HeartSupport tent in middle of it all, prepared with the Support Wall to offer peer-led mental health care to attendees.
Mostly manned by volunteers throughout the four day fest, the Support Wall at Aftershock was the site of deep conversations about grief, love, music, and what unites us all in our struggles and our strengths. One such conversation happened with Nick.
“I opened up on the wall about my wife recently passing away of cancer, after 25 years of marriage, on my birthday in January,” Nick explained. “I was inspired to open up because I really wanted to share my story. That’s one of the things: you talk about it. It makes it easier to deal with.”
The music community rose up to surround Nick’s anonymous message, pouring out kind responses.
After seeing the responses, Nick said, “I felt love. I felt emotional. I felt support. I’m here at Aftershock, and I usually come with my wife every year. It’s a little emotional this year, but I know she’d want me to be here. She’s with me here in spirit. This experience has impacted me because I’ve got love and support, and I’m not the only one dealing with this pain.”
In fact, surprisingly, another attendee who opened up on the wall was having a very similar experience.
“Another man opened up about how he and his best friend would go to Aftershock every year together. His friend committed suicide last year, so this was his first time coming out to Aftershock without him,” one of HeartSupport’s volunteers recalls. “He thought that HeartSupport was such a great space, and he wished his friend had opened up about things. He said he didn’t know how to help him. He held guilt because he felt like he couldn’t fully be there for his friend, because he had his own family. He tried to help his friend and would constantly ask about him, but his friend was always very short and distant. With a shaky voice, he asked me, ‘How do you reach someone like that?’”
The volunteer concludes, “He hugged me and appreciated that he was able to open up about it. He said that he could feel his friend there with him in spirit.”
Even in the midst of loss, these music fans were able to find solidarity, companionship, and care through HeartSupport’s presence. They were just a few of the 800 conversations that took place at the wall over the weekend.
HeartSupport at Aftershock 2025
For many attendees, this was just the beginning, as they had the opportunity to learn about Support Calls and other ways they can stay connected to the deeply supportive HeartSupport community.
“All four days had such a huge impact on me personally as well as the people I interacted with!” one of the volunteers added.
If you want to make more moments of healing the scene possible, donate today to allow HeartSupport to continue to show up for people like Nick.
