Jake Luhrs is the lead singer of Grammy-nominated metal band, August Burns Red and founder of HeartSupport.
To date, he has toured hundreds of countries internationally and reached the Top 10 BillBoard charts multiple times.

After seeing his fans struggling through addiction, depression, and suicide ideation, he prayed one evening for a way to help his fans and people around the world find hope and faith. The answer to that prayer was HeartSupport.
In the short years Jake has been running HeartSupport, he has united bands and fans alike to carry a message of hope, healing, and restoration to a scene that is typically viewed as “dark” and “without hope.” His efforts thus far have led the organization to be nominated twice for philanthropic awards up against the likes of Doctors Without Borders and the American Cancer Society.

In 2016 he won the Artist Philanthropic Award at the Alternative Press Music Awards in recognition for his work at HeartSupport. In addition to HeartSupport and his band, he also runs a clothing line company called “More Weight” that inspires others to reach and achieve their health goals through community support.

Lou Rivera’s own personal mental health journey started, like many, as a young child. Sexually abused by a family friend, Lou learned first-hand how abusers groom their victims. Living many years with guilt and shame, Lou learned that talking with others and getting the professional help needed are keys to a successful healing journey. Lou is a strong mental health and sex abuse prevention advocate. Breaking the mental health stigma and exposing as many young people to get the help they need for their personal healing journeys is so important.

Lou’s first experience with the HeartSupport mission was a two-hour breakfast meeting with founder, Jake Luhrs. It was eye and heart opening. The discussion motivated Lou to get involved with HeartSupport. Lou’s first project was to assist Jake Luhrs with the setting up the YourLife Gym as a business advisor.

Lou graduated from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts with a degree in physical therapy. Lou and wife Michelle have three grown children, a wonderful son in law, four dogs and two grand dogs. Lou loves to spend time with family, pups, travel and enjoy a good cigar occasionally. Lou and Michelle are partners and owners of a physical therapy private practice and an ergonomic consulting firm, both in Pennsylvania. 

Michelle Saari has been an advocate and mental health professional for over 20 years.
She holds both a Ph.D. and Masters degree in psychology and is a licensed mental health provider, and Board certified clinical supervisor in the state of Minnesota.
She is also a Nationally Certified Counselor through the NBCC (National Board for Certified Counselors). As a long time fan of the heavy metal music industry, she was aware of the negativity and darkness that many in the scene face.

Seeing Heartsupport as a unique blend of the music community, relationship building and hope for those struggling, she began volunteering on the ground at Vans Warped Tour. Michelle has helped the organization grow to reach even more people while encouraging others to live the healthiest lives they can and discover their best self.

Outside of her professional service, she can be found exploring the outdoors, spending time exercising, and attending as many concerts and music festivals as her schedule allows.

Casey Faris has been passionate about mental health for decades. In high school, he felt lost in a sea of classmates struggling with depression, anxiety, self-harm, and eating disorders, but didn't really understand how he could help. In late high school, a fuel to help people started to mesh with his love for multimedia and Casey decided his life should "probably have something to do with creating things and helping people." After kicking around a few ideas, going to college for video production, volunteering for several mental health organizations, and working in the youth group in his Church for years, he came across HeartSupport at Vans Warped Tour.

Since that moment, Casey's been driven to create inspiring content that acknowledges the depths of mental health issues, and has directly supported thousands of people though live streams in HeartSupport. He even wrote a book on mental health and livestreaming called "You Are Not Your Stream." He also runs a company with Dan Bernard teaching video editing online to inspire and empower the next generation of creators. Casey believes that one of the most vitally important things you can do in life is to express yourself and take advantage of the freedom to create. This fusion of creativity and mental health has now become the flavor of just about every major pursuit in Casey's life.

Dan Bernard has been involved in the mental health field since he was a young boy. From getting counseling due to his parents' divorce when he was 8, to experiencing the effects of alcoholism and domestic violence in his family life, Dan learned firsthand how life's struggles can affect a person's outlook on themselves and on the future. Art and music were Dan's safe places as he learned to express himself and his emotions through creative means. In middle school, he remembers giving a drawing to someone who was having a rough day and realizing how powerful giving away art could be in changing a person's mood and outlook.

After getting a degree in Art and Multimedia Production in college, Dan pursued his passion for people through his local church in various ministry positions and also through co-founding a company built on equipping and encouraging other creatives through video editing courses online. This venture led Dan to get involved with Heartsupport, and, alongside Casey Faris, directly encourage, support, and care for many people through live streaming on Twitch. Dan has created and given away thousands of pieces of art through an initiative he calls "Creative Encouragement" and to this day still keeps in touch with many of those people with whom he has connected through his art.

Dan is madly in love with his wife of 17 years and adores their 7 year old daughter, whom they adopted through the Oregon foster care system. The family continues to open their home to children in need in their area.

Since moving to Bozeman Montana in 2004 to pursue a business degree, I received three degrees from MSU, during which time I worked to travel for the passion of documentary photography. After amassing a portfolio that has touched on all seven continents, I moved into the SaaS industry to pursue a career in technology. I have been so lucky to find the discipline of Customer Success and am proud to support amazing customers, build out organizational excellence, and help create and nurture a team that is world-class in this incredibly difficult and complex industry.

Bryan graduated from The Art Institute of Colorado in 2008 with a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design. Bryan has always had a passion for all aspects of art, with a focus on photography over the last decade. He spends a lot of time in the wilderness looking for mesmerizing landscapes, old buildings and interesting wildlife.

Inspired by HeartSupport and ABR, Bryan set forth to explore how he could contribute to healing the scene not only through volunteerism , but through his photography as well.