Join us online for our next Speaker Series with special guests
Rainbow Shoelace Project
Abbie Jane from Broken Hill founded the Rainbow Shoelace Project in 2022 when she was just twelve years old. She started giving away free rainbow beads to wear on your shoelaces in her hometown, so people could show their support for the LGBTQIA+ Community. Now a global movement, more than 185,000 packets of shoelace beads have been given away in Australia alone.
Now fourteen, Abbie, is a change-maker and advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community. Her ability to cultivate support for issues that affect her community is inspiring. Her passion for driving change makes her a real force for the future. She is a shining example of how younger generations of Australians are active, critical and engaged in issues that affect their communities. Abbie was recognised as NSW Volunteer of the Year in 2021, when she was just 11 years old.
The Emotional Support Buddy
Hi I’m Annelise! The Emotional Support Buddy has been illustrated and designed by me with the help of my lovely mum. Art and being creative has always been a big part of my life and so has anxiety which sometimes makes it hard for me to do everyday tasks. To cope with this I often bring a stuffed animal with me for support but that isn’t always practical, thus the Emotional Support Buddy was born!
We are a family business who have created THE EMOTIONAL SUPPORT BUDDY. Annelise is the talented artist and Nicole is the Human emotional support buddy. We want to help others by sharing our lived experience with anxiety and share our cute and easy to use selfcare tool to help others who feel the same way, help them feel seen and to make talking about mental health easier. We are all about inclusivity and have also created PRIDE-osaurs to support the LGBTQIA community.
The Emotional Support Buddy is a cute and easy to use self-care tool. There are 8 buddies, each with their own special meaning.
You can use your buddy keychain or pin to help you focus on your mental health and well-being, communicate with others or you can use them just because they’re super cute and add personality to your outfits
