Listeners opened up about their mental health for the first time at Warped Tour Long Beach
“My husband has endured a challenging year marked by uncertainty and resilience. Initially faced with a possible ALS diagnosis, he later learned that cervical spinal impingement was the root cause of his symptoms. In early June, he underwent a double disc replacement surgery to correct the issue, which was technically successful but followed by serious complications. A preexisting cold led t o mucus aspiration after surgery, resulting in respiratory failure that required ventilator support and a tracheostomy. Despite these setbacks, he is now at a specialized respiratory hospital, steadily weaning off the ventilator and making encouraging progress in his recovery.”
— Warped Tour Long Beach attendee, opening up about their struggles
“When you face these kinds of overwhelming medical traumas that are unexpected and out of nowhere, it takes your life by storm. It sucks all of your energy, attention, and resilience- leaving you empty and hoping to make it through the day, hoping things will turn a corner. When the struggles go on and on you lose heart for help. You go through the motions and you just try to stay upright. You dream about help coming, but no one knows the pain. Because at some point, it becomes too hard to tell the same people. It's still not better. It isolates you. Your world gets smaller, the weights get heavier, and you wonder how long you can hold on. But the beauty is that you do you find more strength. You find more courage to get up again and face another day. You choose to open up again and your husband and do it again. You both are warriors and you're writing a story of resilience, of defiance, of unity and love.”
— Another attendee’s response
Following up on their presence at Warped Tour DC earlier this summer, HeartSupport was on the ground again for Warped Tour Long Beach in July. The music fan quoted above was one of 29 people who opened up about their mental health on the Support Wall— many of them sharing about their mental health for the first time in their lives.
Something special about festivals like Warped is that they become communities. They are microcosms of the heavy music scene as a whole, a world where listeners, artists, crew, and organizations are all united by a shared love for songs and the experiences they capture.
HeartSupport witnessed firsthand how the impact of our programs reaches beyond just event attendees. One of the individuals who reached out on the Support Wall was actually a security worker. At another time, a pit worker pulled two friends over to our booth, eager to get them connected to mental health services. One of the setup crew hands was so moved by the work we were doing that he was sure to share a picture with his team.
The truth is that healing the scene means healing everyone who is a part of it, no matter what role they have to play.
“I feel very lost and like I don’t know where I want to go with my future,” Warped attendee Diana bravely admitted. “I don’t know how to communicate what I’m feeling with the people around me, the people in my life. It was a daily thing, like ‘You’re wasting time. You haven’t accomplished anything new.’ I hadn’t opened up because I didn’t want to be a burden to the people around me.”
For Diana, HeartSupport was the catalyst that finally changed that.
“What helped me to open up today was that everyone at HeartSupport was smiling,” she shares. “I was told to come back to the wall. I didn’t expect to see paragraphs! The one that stood out the most to me was telling me to enjoy my time and to be creative and express myself because everyone’s different. I felt a lot of love. It felt like an individual hug from everybody.”
Diana’s experience is proof that even in anonymity, authentic words will always hit home for the hurting. She was surprised and encouraged by the experience, a moment of deep connection that she had no idea she’d experience when she planned her Warped Tour day.
She said simply, “I think that after the help from HeartSupport, I won’t be as hard on myself.”
Each of these individuals mentioned above are still just a fraction of the number of people who walked away from Warped with a new perspective because of HeartSupport.
Warped Tour Long Beach
Every one of those numbers represents a life changed. We’re ready to keep growing our impact through continued festival presence throughout the rest of the summer. Are you ready to join us in healing the scene?
