Reaching out before the cliff edge

Hawke’s Bay extreme athlete and entrepreneur, Jack Jensen, is the living embodiment of his ethos and purpose ‘to spread the froth of life’, encouraging others and using his boundless energy to champion a cause aimed at boosting mental health.

The 29-year-old is the founder of Spark That Chat and co-founder of Cut The Bull, alongside Max Tweedie from Hallmark Angus. Spark That Chat was set up by Jack in response to the devastating loss of a young, 21-year-old mate in 2020, to suicide. The tragedy was followed by the loss of two others, both close mutual connections, to the same fate within the next two years.

“It hit hard. Yea that was super gnarly. I knew depression was a thing but I never really understood it until I had to manage my own grief and seeing those around me through this time grieving – the big ripple effect that someone passing in that way has on so many, many people.

“I just wanted to learn more and try and understand what was behind it, why it happens to people. As mates, we talked about how it had affected us and talked about depression to a certain point.

“I guess I’ve always been about action and movement so I really wanted to do something positive about it.”

Jack is an extreme athlete, specialising in free ride motorcross, surfing, snowboarding and mountain biking along with sky diving. He’s the founder of multimedia production company MSFT Productions, pronounced misfit. It produces high quality multimedia content, including video productions, and has had big-name companies as clients, including Samsung, Harley-Davidson, Air New Zealand, Red Bull and others.

MSFT Productions also acts as a representative for a number of extreme athletes including skateboarder Yeva Butler, BMX rider Brooklyn Williams, rugby player Hugh Renton, freeride skiers Lach and Fynn Powell, cliff jumper Flynn Chisholm, surfer Max de Groot and many others.

Back in 2020, the company already had a significant social media reach and when Jack spoke about the loss of his MSFT’s crew member using the platforms, he was shocked by the number of responses.

“We were just hit like a bus by the impact speaking out had across the country. We received an overwhelming number of messages from people sending us love and regards but also saying, hey I’ve lost a mate, I’ve lost a brother, I’ve lost an uncle, dad, mum or cousin to suicide.

“And within 48 hours I just knew I had to take some action and that’s when Spark That Chat was born. It’s the heart child of MSFTs.”

In the following March, his crewmate’s birthday month, Jack started a campaign dedicating every day in that month to producing content that explored what’s behind the psyche of some of the extreme sports, why people push the limits.

“We also talked to psychologists and counsellors and asked the hard questions about depression, what’s going on in the brain. I was still deep in grief and through the whole month and the process of shooting the content I was on a healing journey. It was tough but it was healing in itself.”

Every March since then, Jack’s dedicated that month to the cause.

“It’s an initiative that grew into a movement and now it’s a fully-fledged charity. We have an incredible board of directors and amazing advocates and ambassadors with a fantastic team that’s executing life-saving, life-changing campaigns.”

“And within 48 hours, I just knew I had to take some action and that’s when Spark That Chat was born. It’s the heart child of MSFTs.” – Jack Jensen, Spark That Chat

This year, ASB has come on board and the Spark that Chat programme has partnered with other groups such as Youthline to connect with young people through a Future Generations Tour. Over 10 days, Jack spoke to more than 10,000 students at schools across the east coast and central North Island.

“In four weeks this year, we reached more than 1.7 million people online.”

Cut The Bull is another programme that’s come from the rural connections Jack’s had through Spark that Chat and is in partnership with Farmstrong. Cut the Bull has reached more than four million people across social media this year with content coming from a tour that included three stops during bull selling season – the Hallmark Angus bull sale in northern Hawke’s Bay, Te Mania Angus Stud bull sale in North Canterbury and National Fieldays in Waikato.

It’s the third year of the programme and Jack says that while farmers often don’t cry out for help, the rural people he’s connected with have ‘absolutely lapped up the connections and discussions.’

Jack describes the overarching purpose of the campaigns and programmes as offering help two hills before the cliff face.

“We’re there at the cliff face too. We’re there to say hey, you’re not alone, we’re here for you, but as well as that we’re trying to get out there and provide people with the connections they need for help before it gets to that stage.

“Our page has links to a lot of organisations where help is available and we have those conversations too when we’re out there talking with people.

“If you can get a mate to open up, if you share a bit yourself, even that can make a huge difference well before someone gets to the cliff edge.” – Jack Jensen, Spark That Chat

“We want people to know how important it is to talk and that’s not just putting that responsibility on people who are struggling. It’s a message to others, so they see how important it is that they reach out and help their mates, help pull them up out of that darkness.

“If you can get a mate to open up, if you share a bit yourself, even that can make a huge difference well before someone gets to the cliff edge.”

Building understanding about neuroscience and what’s going on in the brain has been a fascinating and empowering journey, Jack says.

“Learning more about what’s going on in our brains and sharing that with others in a way that grabs them and informs them – that’s really a passion now – it’s pretty humbling to realise the impact that can have.”

The practical tools he advocates on his platforms involve three main pillars:

• Movement
• Slowing down
• Human connection

Movement

That doesn’t mean you have to be an extreme athlete or a marathon runner. It can be as simple as walking, riding, surfing or doing anything that gets your body moving. Physical and mental wellbeing are proven to be closely linked.

Slowing down

Consciously pull back from the busyness. Take a walk, put your phone away.

Learn breath work and how to use it to slow down your mind and body. Consciously make time for yourself, even if that’s just half an hour. Other things can wait that long. “It’s about stopping and being where your feet are.”

Human connection

Have conversations with people.

“It’s about making sure you make time for conversations with your mates and others. Don’t always be too busy to take that dinner with friends or have a coffee with a neighbour.

“Watch the young people in your team, they’ve grown up with phones in their hands and they don’t know how to put them down and make real connections with people in real time.”

Getting off farm and connecting with people will help keep your “top two inches” in good condition and that could be just as important – that connection could just help save a mate.