Mental Health Awareness Week 2024
Mental Health Awareness Week 2024 falls from 13th-19th May this year serving as an important reminder that your mental health matters greatly. According to Mind, one in four people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year. But with over two million people on waiting lists for NHS mental health services, communities are left feeling hopeless. Raising awareness of mental health struggles can help stop the stigma surrounding it, allowing people to feel comfortable talking to friends and family about how they’re feeling. This normalises conversation and strengthens connection while preventing feelings of isolation through emotional support and reassurance.
The Power of Music on Mental Health
One of the most accessible and researched mediums of healing is music. According to multiple studies, music releases a chemical in the brain that plays a key role in setting good moods. One study published by Nature Neuroscience showed a 9% increase in dopamine levels when participants were listening to music they enjoyed. It is for this reason that music is integral to Kandu Arts and our way of working. It is widely used in our alternative provision programmes as well as a key offering in individual projects. These projects allow participants to access our music performance and recording studio where they can explore the power of music alongside our experienced facilitators. We have witnessed many people with communication difficulties demonstrate positive interactions as well as reduced levels of anxiety through participation in music.
Kandu Arts belief in music and celebrating it at the Chippenham Folk Festival
Kandu Art’s belief in the power of music to help heal expands further than this as we offer young musicians a chance to showcase their musical creations at local festivals. This encourages social engagement and the feeling of inclusion within the community, which is also known to have positive effects on our mental health. An example being our participation in the 51st Chippenham Folk Festival, a lively family-friendly event taking place on May 24th 2024 at Monkton Park, where Ed Deedigan and The Kandu Collective will be performing on the Community Stage at 12:50 pm, and then Folk On The Fringe at the Rotary Hall at 7:30 pm. The Folk Festival is a non-profit, run by volunteers and has been celebrating local music, dance and song while bringing a sense of community to Chippenham since 1972.
So if you’re feeling down, we welcome you to test our theory of the power of music and join us for some mood-boosting tunes at this year's Chippenham Folk Festival.
Read more about how Kandu Arts integrates music into our work in our previous blog post, youth-led musical showcase.
Comments