Contagious Community at Louder Than Life: Jessica’s Story
“This is what HeartSupport exists for: music fans and complete strangers connecting on a human level, offering each other unconditional love, support, and non-judgement.”
One of the most powerful aspects of HeartSupport’s presence at any festival is that it is so much bigger than the organization’s staff and nonprofits or the gear they set up. When HeartSupport lands at a festival, it’s to empower everyday music fans to heal the scene together — music fans like Jessica and Cody (pseudonyms to protect anonymity).
Jessica came up to the booth at Louder Than Life festival, choosing to fill out a red tile asking for support on the Support Wall. In a moving moment of vulnerability, Jessica shared that her younger brother had died by suicide in 2017. His absence had left her devastated. She knew that Louder Than Life festival would have been a place he could have thrived alongside her, discovering new bands while enjoying old favorites. She put her tile up on the wall, walking away to enjoy some of the bands.
Jessica’s tile on the Support Wall
Meanwhile, Cody stopped by the wall. He was already familiar with HeartSupport: he’d encountered the tent at Welcome to Rockville and formed a connection with HeartSupport’s team. Cody was carrying his own trauma: his mother had recently endured a massive heart attack, and he wasn’t sure how to keep going. The HeartSupport team had stayed in touch with him, encouraging him between the fests.
When Cody came by the Support Wall at Louder Than Life, he came ready to pay that support forward. He saw Jessica’s tile, immediately connecting to her story of pain around a family member’s suffering. He started writing a reply.
As fate would have it, Jessica came back by the booth at exactly that moment to see if anyone had responded to her.
“I asked her if she would like to meet someone who wanted to support her,” volunteer Josh remembers. “They met, and after a few minutes, I captured a photo of Cody hugging Jessica. The love and support in that moment says it all. This is what HeartSupport exists for: music fans and complete strangers connecting on a human level, offering each other unconditional love, support, and non-judgement.”
Community support can truly become contagious. Jessica’s boyfriend Ryan (also an alias) was with her at the festival, and after seeing the impact on Jessica, he chose to open up on a red tile as well.
Ryan shared about being abused as a child, to the extent that he considered ending his life to cope. Operating with a damaged sense of self-worth, he spent ten years in a marriage where he was never given space to share his emotions or process his trauma. Choosing the process of divorce was incredibly difficult, but it ultimately freed him to start exploring his own emotions and healing — especially once he met Jessica.
“I knew I had found my soul mate when she allowed me to open up and cry, and she didn’t leave me for ‘being weak,’” Ryan explained. “We love and trust each other, and I feel safest when I am lying with my head in her lap, allowing myself to cry and open up about my past abuse. She loves me — broken and all. I never knew what that felt like.”
The way that Jessica, Cody, and Ryan showed up for each other and accepted support from each other proves the reality that we all need to both give and receive support. Part of what their story also proves is how powerful it can be when we take the things we’ve been through and allow them to equip us to support others. After weathering losing her brother, Jessica is now making room for her boyfriend Ryan to always feel emotionally supported. After receiving help from HeartSupport, Cody was ready to jump in and help Jessica.
As volunteer Josh so beautifully put it, this is what healing the scene looks like: “Music fans helping music fans with their mental health.”
Jessica and Ryan were two of 62 people who opened up at Louder Than Life, and Cody was one of 326 people who responded. Their stories make the breathtaking beauty of cyclical compassion so clear.
Do you want to be part of healing the scene and making more magical moments like this possible? Donate today to fund HeartSupport’s presence at another year of festivals!
