Australian musicians to get more mental health support

Australian musicians are in line to get more help in dealing with mental health issues, as well as suicide prevention strategies and dedicated 24/7 mental health service. 

Music Australia’s Roundtable Contemporary Music Conference is on in Sydney next week, with a Mental Health In The Music Industry Workplace panel on the agenda.

A likely outcome from the discussions by artist managers, musicians and mental health experts “is a proposal for a national music and mental health industry plan,” said the organisation.

In the meantime, Australia will also to be part of a new initiative from U.K. charity Help Musicians called Music Minds Matter, which has committed to raising £100,000 (AU$164,224) to stop another musician dying from the pressures and stress of being in the spotlight.

The program, set to start later this year, will look to provide a dedicated 24/7 mental health service for people working in music, similar to the one set up in New Zealand last year.

“For generations and generations, the music industry has lost some of its brightest talent and future stars due to the scourge of mental health and related issues," CEO of Help Musicians UK Richard Robinson stated.

“The situation is now urgent and we can no longer allow this to continue.”

Music Minds Matter will combine listening, advice and signposting with clinical, medical, therapeutic and welfare support for those who need it. 

An HMUK study Can Music Make You Sick? from last November found almost three quarters of respondents – all professional musicians – experienced anxiety and depression, with more than half saying they felt underserved by the support available currently. 

Furthermore, an Entertainment Assist report from October 2016 revealed that performers and workers in the Australian entertainment industry have, when compared with the general population, double the rate of suicide rates, ten times more anxiety attacks, five times more depression symptoms and 2-3 times the rate of thinking of suicide. 

Addressing mental health has become a priority for the Australian music industry, with a BIGSOUND 2016 panel, Mental Health and Music, called on major music bodies to become involved.

This February, 90 Victorian arts bodies set up the Arts Wellbeing Collective with a program that includes workshops, training, resources and a website.

Throughout May and June, APRA AMCOS, and Support Act, Ltd ran Music And The Mind, a series of free panel discussions held in cities around Australia that covered strategies for maintaining a healthy creative mind and provided advice for those seeking help.

In October 2016, the NZ Music Foundation’s Wellbeing Service set up a 24-hour counselling online, on the phone or in person. In its first six months, it helped 45 musicians get professional and on-going treatment.