Lost at sea?

More musicians than ever are speaking out about struggles with their mental health, but what support services are available in this time of crisis?

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With the pandemic causing mental distress and financial anxieties for many musicians, support for those with mental health problems is needed now more than ever. In the UK, alongside hardship funds set up by the Musicians’ Union, Help Musicians and others, there are specialist mental health helplines and counselling services, as well as online peer-support sessions and resources to help musicians manage issues they find difficult. This mental health support infrastructure was growing even before the pandemic hit, as the music industry has become more engaged in the last few years with addressing the significant mental health issues among performing artists.

A new book called Can Music Make You Sick? by academics Sally Anne Gross and George Musgrave was published in September 2020. It has its roots in a research project with the same title that was commissioned by Help Musicians and which, in its first phase in 2016, surveyed 2,211 musicians and music industry professionals about their mental health. Just over 71 per cent of the respondents reported experiencing anxiety and/or panic attacks, and 68.5 per cent said they had suffered from depression, a figure suggesting that musicians are up to three times more likely to suffer from depression than the general population.

Musgrave reflects that since the publication of the initial research, larger organisations in the industry have become more positive towards the discussion around mental health. ‘We met some pushback in 2016,’ he says, ‘with some bigger organisations thinking the title was too negative. Today we’re seeing significantly less of that. People are recognising that the issue hasn’t gone away but is actually getting worse, and while there was already a lot of commitment from the charitable sector, now there’s very positive involvement from a wide range of organisations and professional bodies.’ He cites the broad collaborative response to Help Musicians’ £5m Coronavirus Financial Hardship Fund, which launched in March 2020. It was supported with donations from the Royal Society of Musicians and Arts Council England, as well as from businesses including Amazon Music and Spotify, and music licensing company PPL.

In the wake of the 2016 research, Help Musicians set up Music Minds Matter, a free 24-hour listening ear service with access to counselling. ‘One of the key priorities for the musicians who were surveyed was that they wanted a service where they could talk to a trained adviser about their experiences,’ says Joe Hastings, the head of Music Minds Matter. ‘Most people using the helpline are using it as a listening ear service, but a significant minority ‒ around 350 musicians over the past 12 months ‒ go on to access counselling and therapeutic services.’ With a recent Help Musicians survey finding that over 80 per cent of respondents felt the pandemic was having an impact on their wellbeing, Hastings says there is a need to invest in early detection and preventative mental health support. This has led Help Musicians to partner with the charity Music Support to offer musicians access to the NHS-approved mental wellbeing app Thrive. Hastings says: ‘The idea behind this is that we can support musicians to manage the things they find difficult, so that they’re engaging with resources that reduce the potential for something to reach a point where the musicians experience a crisis.’

‘People are recognising that the issue hasn’t gone away but is actually getting worse’ 

Another organisation that has seen its work intensify in the mental health area is the British Association for Performing Arts Medicine (BAPAM), which offers free health assessments for professional musicians. BAPAM director Claire Cordeaux says: ‘We have over 60 psychosocial practitioners in our directory, which is nearly double the number we had three years ago.’ She echoes Musgrave in her assessment of the change in understanding about mental health in the industry. ‘When Music Minds Matter was set up it was very much making the point that mental health was an issue. It was about showing that there was a problem. Now the conversation is much more about what we should do about the problem, and how best to address it. It feels like the whole discussion has moved on significantly.’

In the US, a new documentary showing on PBS called Orchestrating Change profiles a mental health initiative that turns the idea of ‘Can Music Make You Sick?’ on its head. Me2/ is an orchestral organisation created to support individuals with mental illness, and was co-founded in 2011 by Ronald Braunstein, whose promising career as a world-class conductor was derailed by bipolar disorder. It operates several orchestras and chamber groups in the US, and around half of the musicians involved have a mental illness diagnosis. The organisation’s mission is to erase the prejudice surrounding mental illness, and Margie Friedman, one of the two film-makers behind Orchestrating Change, says: ‘There is still a huge stigma for people to speak out and say, “I have a mental illness.” People are afraid of being judged. But the Me2/ musicians have a sense of acceptance among each other. They are more comfortable sharing because they know they’re not going to be judged. The people in the orchestra who don’t have a diagnosis are incredibly supportive of the people who do ‒ which reflects the whole idea of the orchestra being a model for how society could function.’

NEWS IN BRIEF

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KATE LEMMON 

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German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter has spoken out against Covid-19 restrictions on live performance, and criticised the relief package offered to musicians by her country’s government. ‘I find this unequal treatment outrageous,’ she told broadcaster Deutsche Welle. ‘It may be wonderful to post something from time to time to stay in contact with the outside world,’ she said. ‘But, of course, this is not a means of survival… the virtual world, unfortunately, doesn’t help us.’ In November, Mutter also began a series of concerts to raise funds for freelance musicians in Germany who have lost their income.

Sào Soulez Larivière wins Mendelssohn Advancement Award bit.ly/338Yovl 

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