[imagesource:pexels]

Breakups are hard for all ages, but it can very well feel like the world is ending when it happens in your teenage years.

While the millennial generation wore black skinny jeans, dyed their hair black, covered their black-eyelined eyes with a fringe, and put Fall Out Boy on repeat on their iPods to sit in the feels, the New Zealand government is putting big money into helping GenZ “own the feels”.

The Love Better campaign has received $4 million (over R72 million) from NZ’s Ministry of Social Development for a three-year stint to help alleviate the heartache and pain that teens feel after a breakup.

“Over 1,200 young kiwis told us they need support to deal with early experiences of love and hurt, and breakups were identified as a common challenge,” Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment Priyanca Radhakrishnan said in a statement.

The campaign is part of the government’s broader national strategy to eliminate family violence and sexual violence, which is one of the key problems in the country.

The hope is that by supporting young people through “these formative experiences”, “we can positively impact how they approach future relationships”, the minister said.

“This is an authentic way to inspire others to build their own strength, self-worth, and resilience,” Radhakrishnan said in the statement, noting the Love Better campaign’s approach leveraging social media and creating a community to address the impact of breakups has not been tried before.

Watch the video here.

Using the tagline “own the feels”, the campaign is run by Youthline, an organisation dedicated to supporting people ages 12 to 24, and includes a dedicated phone, text or email helpline for young people needing support as they navigate their breakup:

“We know there can be very negative impacts from breakups done badly – both at a personal and community level,” Youthline’s chief executive Shae Ronald said, adding that relationship issues were one of the top reasons young people generally contacted the helpline, RNZ reported.

Per NewsHub, research last year found 62% of young people have been through a breakup and 72% of them have experienced or perpetrated harmful impacts, while most young people (55%) are not confident or only somewhat confident they could end a relationship without harm.

The research also found that a good handful of young people also see breakups as opportunities for learning or change, as a normal part of life with the potential to result in good things. Some may just need a little push to embrace this perspective.

As the old saying goes; one door closes as another door opens; or perhaps you prefer the newer saying “thank u, next”.

[sources:cnn&newshub]