Our History

Listen to our Founders share what inspired them to create Lionheart Foundation and why our work is as important today as it’s ever been.

In 2009, Rick and Julie George founded the Juno Foundation to address a chronic shortage of mental health therapists in the Calgary area who were trained, capable and willing to work with adolescent girls, young women and their families, and to provide financial aid to families in need of therapy.

In 2017, the organization changed its name to the Lionheart Foundation as a historic reference of to Richard the Lionheart. This new name represents bravery and courage, the very qualities girls and young women need to cope with the pressures of adolescence and to evolve into adulthood, confident and self-aware.

Over the years, the Lionheart Foundation has helped hundreds of young people and their families access best-in-class mental health care for anxiety-related issues such as depression, eating disorders and self-harm.

Today, adolescent mental health remains an area of great need but one that is still highly disjointed and under-resourced. According to Statistics Canada, young people aged 15-24 experience the highest incidence of mental disorders of any age group in Canada and recent studies report that suicide is now the leading cause of death for children aged 10 to 14 (Boswell, 2020, Canada, 2020.)

We have an opportunity – and a responsibility – to address this issue.