Elle grew up on a cattle farm in Haast, a small remote town on the West Coast of the South Island. Elle has always had a strong passion for the farming industry, studying agriculture at Lincoln University and working on different stations around the South Island for 5 years.

Elles passion for promoting holistic health and wellbeing resources to rural communities came from losing her partner Will to suicide in 2017. 

This grief caused much anger and frustration, as suicide was not talked about enough in rural communities. The statistics at the time were showing rural was the highest demographic, particularly in males age 18-25. 

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Elle was on an 8-week waiting list for professional mental health support following the tragedy. She felt there was not enough support for those struggling around her, therefore she founded the Will To Live charitable trust in 2018.

When Will To Live first launched she organized an 18-location Speak Up Tour, bringing mental health awareness and tools to rural people who are often most isolated and fatigued. Elle was a finalist for the New Zealand Woman of Influence awards and was a receiving medalist for New Zealander Of The Year - Local Hero in 2019.

Today, Elle dedicates her time into all things that improve wellbeing; studying towards a degree in Naturopathy & Herbal Medicine, is a 200hr Yoga teacher, a qualified NLP Master Practitioner (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) - providing coaching for those struggling, and manages fundraising projects, campaigns and wellbeing programmes for Will To Live.

Harry grew up on a farm in Gibbston Valley, Queenstown, is now the operations manager at Mt Gerald Station settled in the basin of Lake Tekapo.

Harry is passionate and actively involved in many campaigns and programmes within the agricultural industry. 

Harry is forward thinking and wants to inspire farmers to produce high end premium products, influencing his own generation further New Zealand as a leading farming nation. 

Harry is also a rural mental health advocate, and a real asset to Will To Live.

Speaking at 8 out of 18 events on the Speak Up Tour, Harry continues to participate in other speaking engagements in rural communities, sharing his story of tragedy and depression, gifting hope to many young farmers. 

Harry is also the comedian of the team, loves keeping a positive twist whilst speaking about a dark topic. He reaches and relates to many of our young rural male following. 

What is your best Will To Live Memory?

“Everything I have done with Will to Live has been exceptional, I greatly enjoyed the responses we got after running Speak up Tours events. Every time someone from Will to Live is publicly recognised we got more people opening up and talking about their experiences, I think we have truly helped people feel more comfortable to express what they are really feeling.

Meeting everyone that we have influenced and help along the way, was incredibly rewarding. It also helped me grow personally.”

Sam grew up and has worked most of his life on the family farm in Methven, Canterbury. 

He now spends his days in property acquisition and development in Christchurch.

Sam is passionate about sharing his struggles and story of hope to those most isolated. 

Sam has suffered with mental illness for over a decade, including suicide attempts and been diagnosed with cancer. Sam has had his fair share of struggles, has now recovered and wants to spread the word on helping people overcome illness. 

Sam has been public speaking and sharing his story publicly for the past 5 years, he is a great mental health advocate, and contributes significantly to the many projects run at Will To Live. Sam spoke at 7 out of 18 events on the 2019 Speak Up Tour.

What is your best Will To Live Memory?

“All of the Speak Up Tour stops and seeing others open up, be vulnerable and in turn grow. The reception and feedback we got was incredible and the conversations with complete strangers after our speeches took me to a whole new level and solidified my goal of making an impact in the mental health space and to help others.”

Kate grew up on sheep and beef farm in Central Otago. 

Kate is passionate about the mental health and wellbeing of all people, empathic particularly towards the farming industry where education on emotional health is sparse and options few. 

Kate works as a health professional and practices several therapy's, including Acupuncture (Chinese Medicine) and NIS - Neural work, constantly coming across issues of emotional health and mental strain/fatigue. She believes if these aspects were more clearly understood and we knew what to do when faced with an imbalance in this area of our wellbeing, we could live happier, healthier lives. 

Kate was a crucial part of the Speak Up Tour in 2019, and presented at every event. She shared her experiences with grief and gave farmers tools and therapies that they could use when dealing with hardship and living in isolation. 

What is your best Will To Live Memory

I absolutely loved going on tour with Will to Live in 2019 and speaking to and with the many passionate rural based people who want to also create change. If we bind together and have open conversations we can all learn and grow together.

Sylvia grew up in rural North Canterbury country, she knows first hand the rollercoaster that comes after a family loss to depression. Sylvia is pursuing and achieving a. degree in Psychology and Human Development, and is now working towards my Masters in Nursing Science. To keep herself somewhat financially afloat I make regular guest appearances in the shearing sheds as a rousie. 

“I find the banter, music and physical work a refreshing way for me to unwind from the big city life stresses, as I throw wool around wearing a questionable clash of colours and patterns.”

“My brothers are the primary inspiration of my passion for mental health. I have chosen to spend my time, knowledge and love on the Will to Live foundation in memory for the brother we lost and as an example for the brothers I still have. I hope that by the time I bring children into this world (if I manage to rope in some poor bloke to make a tribe with) they will grow up in a society that openly, unashamedly addresses mental health with equal, if not more, importance and confidence as physical health. I am proud to be a part of a movement that is working on setting up a safe world for my future offspring to be welcomed into and grow up in.

“My Will to Live is the freedom of being able to laugh at myself, or bringing smiles, chortles, giggles and snorts to those around me, I feel like I have achieved at the highest level anyone could aspire to do so, which is happiness. By no means do I have all my duckies in a row, and that is okay. We are all human and we are perfectly imperfect beings. Just remember, “I believe in you”

Rory is a passionate young farmer, who is currently shepherding in the Tasman/Marlborough area. In his younger days, Rory got a taste of the agricultural industry when he was taken under the wing by a farming family from Patarau. His passion grew along with the dream of becoming a high country shepherd.

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Rory joined Will To Live team during the Speak Up Tour in 2019, he spoke at 5 events across the country sharing his personal story of struggle with depression and the isolation of living rurally. Rory believes that to reveal your scars, shows others that healing is possible.

He recalls and describes the type of people who pulled him out of the rabbit hole, and inspires everyone to be a better friend. “The simplest things like inviting them for dinner or to events can be mean the most to those struggling, even if they reject sometimes, keep asking. It was the selflessness of people around me that saved my life.

What is your best Will To Live Memory

 “It was incredibly humbling to see how many people young and old attended these events. It goes to show how strong our rural communities are and how much they truly care about the well-being of the people within them.”