Jazz Thornton - The Girl on the Bridge

<p>Today we are speaking with an amazing young lady, Jazz Thornton. <span style= "font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;"> Having overcome childhood abuse and 14 suicide attempts, Jazz Thornton has now dedicated her life to speaking hope and creating change in the area of mental health.</span></p> <div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"> <div dir="auto"> </div> </div> <div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"> <div dir="auto">She grew up in Timaru, New Zealand, moving to Auckland when she was 16. She struggled with mental health for as long as she can remember. As a child she had trouble regulating her emotions and as she got older this became increasingly worse. Finally when she was 20 she had a conversation that pivoted her life – and her first book, Stop Surviving Start Fighting, published by Penguin, is based on this conversation.</div> <div dir="auto"> </div> </div> <div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"> <div dir="auto">In 2017 Jazz began studying film and television where she directed her first short film "Dear Suicidal Me." The film went viral, being shared on international media around the world and gaining over 80 million views. Not long after that Jazz became the youngest New Zealander to win the annual Doc Edge pitching contest where she pitched her first series idea Jessica's Tree, which she went on to direct. The five-part series won the Best Web Series award at the Huawei NZ TV Awards, a gold award at the International New York Film Festival, and festival awards in Barcelona, Copenhagen and Toronto.</div> <div dir="auto"> </div> </div> <div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"> <div dir="auto">She co-founded Voices of Hope, a non-profit organisation which aims to create and implement change for mental health, whilst providing hope through the voices of those with lived experience. Through advocacy,