Having evaluated the results of the NZ Music Community Wellbeing Survey conducted earlier in the year the NZ Music Foundation has launched the first wellbeing service for people working with music in the world.

The NZ Music Foundation Wellbeing Service offers 24-hour counselling via phone, the internet and in-person. It’s  specifically tailored to the music community in order to provide support for those who are experiencing emotional, physical and mental health challenges.

The service is available free of charge to anyone working in the NZ music industry unable to access help due to hardship or other circumstances, and is staffed by registered professionals with experience in providing support to creative people.

The service was established in response to the results of the NZ Music Community Wellbeing Survey conducted in July. Drawing more than 1350 participants, initial survey results showed that many in our music community are experiencing health and wellbeing issues at incidence rates far in excess of the general population (compared to data from Ministry Of Health surveys released in 2006 and 2015). Notably:

• Songwriters, composers and performers report having attempted suicide in their lifetime at a rate more than double that of the general population.
• Over a third of songwriters, composers and performers report having been diagnosed with a mental health disorder, almost double the incidence in the general population.
• Songwriters and composers are two and a half times as likely to have been diagnosed with depression as the general population.
• 84% of all those who responded to the survey reported experiencing stress in the last year that has impacted on their ability to function day to day.

Almost two-thirds of those who completed the survey in July said they would be likely to contact a service such as The Music Foundation Wellbeing Service if they were experiencing difficulty.

“We’ve worked hard to listen to the voices of those making their way in music in NZ. It’s a vibrant, vital and exciting industry and we’re very proud to be able to launch this service today . We hope it will further support Kiwi music people to enjoy healthy, productive and fulfilling lives in their chosen careers,” says the organisation’s GM Peter Dickens.

The Music Foundation provides support to members of the local music industry in times of illness, distress and hardship, and develops and assists projects across all areas of society that use music to positively influence the lives of those in need.