New Zealand invests millions in youth heartbreak relief

They say you never forget your first love, but what they don't usually say is that you never forget your first broken heart either.

Dealing with a breakup during puberty is different for everyone. But with help, the whole process can be a little bit easier.

Photo: Unsplash - Danny G.New

And that's exactly what the New Zealand government wants to offer the country's 12- to 24-year-olds with the 'Love Better' campaign.

Photo: Unsplash - Gemma Chua Tran

The goal is clear: to promote healthy, positive and equal relationships, free from harmful talk, says the program.

A program to which the Government has allocated NZ$6.4 million that will help around 850,000 young people.

Photo: Unsplash - Christopher Campbell

The 'Love Better' program, divided into several phases, aims to teach young people to recognize their pain and transform it into a positive attitude that will take root in the future.

Photo: Pexels - Belu Carrillo Asis

Priyanca Radhakrishnan, associate minister for Social Development and Employment told the press, "Love Better, which asks young people to 'own the feels,' is a primary prevention campaign that features young people sharing real stories to help their peers who may be going through similar experiences."

Photo: Unsplash - Maria Lysenko

To achieve this, the initiative is primarily about normalizing asking for help after a breakup.

Photo: Pexels - Ketut Subiyanto

Marama Davidson, minister for the Prevention of Family Violence and Sexual Violence also told the press that "This campaign sits alongside work already underway to support young people with healthy boundaries and attitudes to relationships."

In other words, Love Better is a program for young people, but with a short, medium and long-term impact. "The goal is to disrupt and change toxic discourses and behaviors related to relationships that are universal and affect all young people," says Priyanca Radhkrishnan.

Photo: Unsplash - Alex Green

According to the Deputy Minister for Social Development and Employment, the reason for the focus on adolescence is that it is "a time when our beliefs and attitudes about relationships and gender can be challenged or reinforced".

Photo: Unsplash - Nikolay Hristov

But it is also a preventive initiative against the consequences that result for many young people from poorly managed breakups.

Photo: Unsplash - Amin Moshrefi

Almost 7 in 10 of the young people surveyed admitted that the pain of their breakup was much greater than expected.

Photo: Unsplash - Andrew Neel

Coping with this pain often leads to depression, self-harm, substance abuse, risky intimate relationships, revenge, blackmail, coercion, or even violence.

Photo: Unsplash - Muhammad Faiz Zulkeflee

As Priyanca Radhkrishnan admits, in conducting this survey, many young people "admitted that they need help to deal with their first experiences of love and pain".

Photo: Pexels - Vera Arsic

Of course, the initiative is absolutely groundbreaking and could mark an unexplored path of helping young people around the world. "This approach hasn’t been trialled by any government around the world. New Zealand has shameful statistics of family and sexual violence and we need innovative approaches to break the cycle," Radhakrishnan said.

Photo: Pexels-Van Thang