The Music Industry Therapy Collective has launched a crowdfunder campaign to produce a musicians’ manual aimed at supporting wellbeing and mental health on tour.
The guide will offer practical, clinically sound and trauma-informed advice to artists and crew who hit the road.
It will address tour-related difficulties from drug-induced psychosis to conflict, loneliness, depression, addiction, anxiety, sleep disturbance, post-show adrenalin rushes, identity issues, relationship problems and post-tour depression.
The 300+ page Touring & Mental Health Manual is being written by a group of psychotherapists in the UK and US who previously worked in the music industry in studios, live events, PR, at record labels, in radio, management and as artists.
Psychotherapist and former music industry festival and venue booker Tamsin Embleton is spearheading the initiative.
Embleton, who is also health co-chair at the Association for Electronic Music (AFEM) said: ‘Touring can be fun, exciting and deeply rewarding but it can also be lonely, intense and highly stressful. On the road, emotional experiences are amplified and many find it hard to put their feelings into words.
‘Touring pushes the body, mind and brain through a rollercoaster of highs and lows and it does so whilst you're away from home and the self-care strategies you might usually use to see you through a difficult period.
‘This rollercoaster takes its toll. Some people struggle when they’re on the road, some when the bubble bursts and they return feeling exhausted, flat, withdrawn, dejected, questioning their worth or having developed dependencies or addictions in order to regulate or numb difficult emotions and experiences.’
For more info, and to support the initiative, see https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/the-touring-mental-health-manual
The guide will offer practical, clinically sound and trauma-informed advice to artists and crew who hit the road.
It will address tour-related difficulties from drug-induced psychosis to conflict, loneliness, depression, addiction, anxiety, sleep disturbance, post-show adrenalin rushes, identity issues, relationship problems and post-tour depression.
The 300+ page Touring & Mental Health Manual is being written by a group of psychotherapists in the UK and US who previously worked in the music industry in studios, live events, PR, at record labels, in radio, management and as artists.
Psychotherapist and former music industry festival and venue booker Tamsin Embleton is spearheading the initiative.
Embleton, who is also health co-chair at the Association for Electronic Music (AFEM) said: ‘Touring can be fun, exciting and deeply rewarding but it can also be lonely, intense and highly stressful. On the road, emotional experiences are amplified and many find it hard to put their feelings into words.
‘Touring pushes the body, mind and brain through a rollercoaster of highs and lows and it does so whilst you're away from home and the self-care strategies you might usually use to see you through a difficult period.
‘This rollercoaster takes its toll. Some people struggle when they’re on the road, some when the bubble bursts and they return feeling exhausted, flat, withdrawn, dejected, questioning their worth or having developed dependencies or addictions in order to regulate or numb difficult emotions and experiences.’
For more info, and to support the initiative, see https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/the-touring-mental-health-manual
