Operation White Heart continues to grow in New Brunswick

An initiative started in Saint John to raise awareness on mental health and suicide is spreading across New Brunswick.

Gary Brown started Operation White Heart in 2021, making small and large hearts with white stones and placing them in public and private spaces to start a conversation on the important matters.

Brown first got involved in the mental health field in 2019.

“I was pretty ignorant up until then,” admits Brown. “I had a friend of mine who lost his daughter and it kind of opened my eyes to the problem here.”

Since starting, Brown has built 625 white hearts. At first, he was only building them in the Greater Saint John area, but now he is going across the province spreading awareness. He has even gone as far as Calgary to build white hearts.

There is a slight cost to getting a white heart from the organization, with the majority of it going to support training for ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training).

“I recommend this ASIST to anybody,” says Brown, who pays for people to get the training though the money raised from the white hearts. “That teaches you how you can talk somebody down and it also teaches you how you listen. If someone's talking to you about their problems, you don’t want to start talking about your issues.

“You let them talk.”

This isn’t an effort Brown is doing alone.

Lorraine Lord lives in uptown Saint John and residents have likely seen her riding her scooter around town with an Operation White Heart sign proudly displayed on the front. She first came across the group on Facebook and has since helped promote their message of “You Matter.”

“Everybody in this world has ups and downs,” says Lord. “Basically I see a need and ‘You Matter’ is very important thing for people to see.”

There is also support from other organizations.

Dave Grady is the facilitator for OSI CAN New Brunswick, which provides support for first responders and veterans. At the start of the month, he took over the construction of white hearts in the Saint John area.

“I thought, well, let’s kill two birds with one stone,” says Grady. “I have the peer-to-peer where we're trying to get veterans and first responders a purpose, give them initiative, give them incentive to go out and get back in public. And two, with the Operation White Heart, it’s awareness, and that's all we're trying to do, is bring awareness for mental illness and suicide.”

He reminds residents mental health isn’t like a broken arm, and it can’t always be easy to see someone is struggling. Similar to Brown, Grady says there is a charge for someone looking to get a white heart built, with half the cost going towards a charity of the buyer’s choosing.

“When you get your heart and you get to see veterans and first responders actually doing the job, it feels good to you and it feels good to us for doing it,” Grady says, noting a pair of white hearts are schedule to be built Friday in the Kennebecasis Valley.

There is also a new white heart garden receiving the finishing touches by the Reversing Falls. The garden was built by students at the New Brunswick Community College after speaking with Brown. It was built in partnership with the City of Saint John and New Brunswick Southern Railway.

“This will kind of give someone a place to sit for a minute and reflect on what's really going on,” says Brown on the new space. “And maybe, hopefully, save a life.”

Once the new space is complete, a grand unveiling ceremony is expected to be held. 

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