We unite fans through music and empower them to support each other’s mental health.
Created by and for the metal music scene
In 2011, our founder set out to help his fans.
HeartSupport founder, Jake Luhrs, is the well-recognized frontman of the world-famous metal band, August Burns Red.
Every night, fans would share raw stories about addiction, suicide, self-harm, fear, hopelessness, and more.
He created HeartSupport to help these fans open about their struggles and get support in improving their mental health.
Meet Our Volunteer Team
Get to know a few of our dedicated volunteers
(Click on the thumbnails to view the videos.)
HeartSupport’s Staff
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Shelbi serves as the primary steward of HeartSupport’s mission, relationships, and long-term vision. She focuses on cultivating major donors, artists, and strategic partners while leading and activating the Board of Directors. By empowering a strong internal team, Shelbi ensures the organization grows sustainably and remains aligned around impact.
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Bryce leads HeartSupport’s festival and tour activations, Support Wall program, and live-event partnerships. He manages volunteers, coordinates with venues and artists, and helps translate on-the-ground experiences into meaningful fundraising and sponsorship opportunities. Bryce ensures HeartSupport shows up with excellence wherever fans gather.
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Reece oversees HeartSupport’s peer support programs, including full ownership of the Support Calls Program. He manages systems, volunteer coordination, escalations, and program reporting to ensure participants receive consistent, high-quality care. Reece builds the infrastructure that allows HeartSupport’s services to scale with clarity and precision.
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Kirstie is the operational backbone of HeartSupport, ensuring internal systems, compliance, HR, and financial coordination run smoothly. As a trusted partner to the Executive Director, she translates leadership decisions into execution and removes administrative burden from the team. Kirstie creates order, clarity, and follow-through across the organization.
HeartSupport’s Board of Directors
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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.
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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. -
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.
HeartSupport’s Committee Members
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With over 20 years of experience in the legal industry, and over 30 years as a musician, Shawn is excited to advise HeartSupport – combining his love of metal with his love of the law.
Shawn is the General Counsel at Crisis Text Line, a not-for-profit organization operating a free, 24/7 national crisis line offering mental health support via text and chat. There, he has overseen the org's international expansion and rapid scaling in the U.S. to support millions of people in crisis, with thousands of trained volunteers. Prior to joining Crisis Text Line, Shawn was an associate at the global law firm of Gibson Dunn in its New York office, with a broad practice including complex commercial litigation, privacy, employment, and corporate defense/government investigations, representing individuals and entities in a wide array of industries. His pro bono clients included entities in mental health services and the arts. Prior to that, Shawn worked for several years as a paralegal at two boutique New York City law firms, focusing on litigation, employment, and corporate defense matters.
Shawn earned a Bachelor’s degree in English & Music from Columbia University and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.
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Content creator Kevin Murray is a serial entrepreneur and events industry professional with decades of experience and success. In his role as CEO & President of Rare Drop, Kevin leads new business development and overall company growth and expansion. His years of experience as a former content creator and broadcaster, in combination with his knowledge and expertise in the gaming and esports space, have helped expand business endeavors while offering strategic direction to clients and peers, both locally and nationally.
Eight years ago, Kevin transferred his expertise in live-event planning, production, and execution into owning and operating one of the largest charitable gaming events in the space. What started as a small meetup has become a game changer in the industry. In Kevin’s role as Executive Producer of GCX, he ensures that attendees, exhibitors, vendors, partners, and creators have a top-tier experience.
While successfully running Rare Drop and GCX, Kevin also lends his financial savvy to help his business partners continue expanding and growing Kings Coast Coffee Company. Starting as a small roasting operation delivering coffee right to your door, Kings Coast has grown into a physical brick and mortar coffee shop that rivals its largest industry competitors with ethical sourcing, sustainability, and specially curated custom coffee roasts.
Kevin holds Executive and Advisory Board seats for both for-profit and nonprofit entities, offering his expertise to help propel their organizations forward.
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With nearly two decades of experience in the music industry, Heather brings a dynamic background in marketing, public relations, and nonprofit collaboration. She spent 11 years at Fearless Records, where she led efforts in advertising, media relations, nonprofit partnerships, and live event coordination—including release parties and festival activations. In 2021, Heather joined Unified Music Group (UNFD and Community Music) as Marketing Manager, where she oversees digital and social campaigns, influencer strategy, advertising, PR, and radio relations. Her passion for fostering meaningful connection through music aligns deeply with HeartSupport’s mission, and she has long been a dedicated champion of the organization’s work.
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Bio coming soon
Partner with us.
Donors take a front row seat in creating real, lasting change within our community. Your support directly fuels the hands-on work we do, empowering metal fans to find hope and healing through the music they love.
Join us in making a difference.
You can contact us using the form or at:
[email protected]
Note: We do not take song requests for our Youtube channel through this form. If you’re also looking for support, please see our SUPPORT CALLS page.