24-hour mental health support service launched for touring music professionals

2 Mins read

A new 24-hour mental health support service has been launched for people working in the music industry.

READ MORE: “Pressure cooker” impact of touring on mental health “needs addressing” – but help is at hand

The Music Industry Therapy Collective (MITC) has set up the Online Tour Health And Welfare Coaching service, which is available now for touring professionals working in music, including artists, production staff, promoters, venues and agents.

It offers round-the-clock, expert-led coaching sessions intended to help to tackle depression, anxiety, stress, insomnia and burnout among individuals working in the high-intensity sphere of the live music business.

The service will also offer help for addiction recovery, domestic conflict, loneliness and other physical and mental health issues.

Sessions can be booked from anywhere in the world at any time of day – find out how to do so here.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Music Industry Therapist Collective (@wearemitc)

Explaining the initiative on Instagram, MITC have said: “Touring professionals face unique challenges – long hours, changing time zones, performance pressure, and little private time to access support. That’s why we’ve created a brand-new 24/7 expert-led coaching platform designed around the realities of tour life.”

Sessions will be available at short-notice and are confidential, led by specialists with music industry experience.

“Our philanthropic model helps redress inequality in access to care,” they added. “Unused sessions are donated to those touring at club and theatre level, where budgets are tight but need is high.”

Research from mental health charity Mind has shown that people working in the music industry are “more prone to mental health problems than the general population”, with “musicians being up to three times more likely to suffer from depression”. Financial pressures, isolation, lifestyle, hectic schedules and addiction are often named as factors.

In 2023, NME spoke to a range of figures in the music industry about the “dangerous” impact that touring can have.

Tamsin Embleton of MITC said: “This is an industry that attracts quite complex, interesting, quirky people; many of whom are grappling with stuff behind the scenes. I sent so many artists out on the road and I was working in venues, day in, day out. To be on tour is really intense, it’s a bit of a pressure cooker. Underneath the surface, what you’re already struggling with is going to intensify. You’ve got no personal space, and it hits you biologically, psychologically and socially.”

Admitting that by a large “artists aren’t prepared” for the realities of touring, Embleton said: “They’re sold a bit of a dream about how it’ll be, and all the exciting stuff is true and real, but those highs are quite a lot for your body to process and come down from. You don’t get great sleep, you’re eating party food most nights, then there’s the abundance of substances, and the mentality that every gig needs to be a party.”