In July 2024, TPi attended Backup Tech’s Village Fete, where the industry gathered to raise money for the charity to continue financially supporting industry technical workers. Music Support donated a MHFA England training course as part of the event’s raffle, where I was the lucky beneficiary of the prize. The free training course was taught by the charity’s Learning and Development Specialist, Davey Shields, over two weeks in four-hour sessions
“I’ve always tried to make the training personable, sharing my personal experience – just in case it inspires someone else in the training session to speak up and apply the training to their lived experience,” Shields said. The charity has impacted at least 1,000 people in the UK music industry over the past year and has seen an increase of 51% in calls and emails to its helpline.
Shields underlined the importance of having multiple trained staff on its books: “The person struggling might not want to go to one individual for support, so having as many people as possible mental health first aid trained will ensure someone struggling can either have multiple people to speak to or someone that they are more comfortable speaking with.”
Gaby D’Annunzio, Head of Connections and Community at Music Support, believes collective responsibility is integral to breaking down the stigma of mental health in the workplace. “It becomes easier to look after others as a mental health first aider the more of us there are. For there to be systemic change, it needs to come from the top down – there needs to be the awareness that as we start opening conversations about mental health – the easier the conversations get, and individuals are more likely to speak out.”
Having attended the course, the sessions gave me a better understanding of my own mental health and how crucial it is to take stock of how you’re feeling before you can help someone else.
“To learn how to empathise with someone else, you need to be able to empathise with yourself,” D’Annunzio said. “Helping support the individuals themselves but giving them the confidence to recognise in others if they are feeling down is important to Music Support.”
Completing the MHFA England course doesn’t mean you are a mental health professional; it teaches individuals to converse when people need it and encourages appropriate help. “Everything we do with MHFA and Music Support is encouraging preventative measures to someone that may be struggling – having someone on a tour that is openly a Mental Health First Aider opens doors to crews to be open about their feelings and that is why it is so important,” Shields explained. “We encourage people to ask us about the course because it is understandable to be nervous about it and we’re here to have that open conversation.”
Open to everyone in the industry, Music Support provide a bursary for freelancers for funded places on the course supported by Backup Tech, The Julia Rausing Trust and Stagehand. “I think what’s interesting the music industry is that it connects us in a way, and we share so much love for music and what we do. It keeps us driven. However, it’s such a unique industry in the sense that it has so many challenges, especially if you’re a freelancer,” D’Annunzio commented.
As well as the MHFA England course, Music Support also hosts an Addiction and Recovery Awareness workshop with the organisation also trialling support groups in collaboration with Headstock. “It’s called ‘Behind the Scenes’ – the idea is to create intimate spaces for people where they can connect and talk about what’s on their mind,” D’Annunzio explained. “It’s a way for us to create more sustainable ways of community and we’re hoping to roll this across many different spaces.”
The charity has now trained over 2,000 people in at least one training course with more than 600 graduates of the MHFA England course. The goal is to have at least one in 20 people trained in the music industry. As an individual on the outskirts of the industry, the MHFA England course delivered by Music Support was a valuable learning experience that I will carry into my personal and professional life. Others in the industry should consider partaking and engaging with this vital training. To learn more about the freelancer bursary and how to sign up visit: www.musicsupport.org/mental-health-first-aid-training/
Words: Alicia Pollitt
Photos: Music Support
