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Tonic Rider Launches Peer Support Groups

Tonic Rider is a free mental health initiative for the music industry, launched in 2021. MU members are invited to join its Peer Support Groups.

Published: 20 January 2022 | 12:14 PM
White painted piano outside in the sunshine, with spider plants on top.
Tonic Rider’s Peer Support Groups are for working musicians and music industry professionals to come together in an open (virtual) space. Photo credit: Shutterstock

Tonic Rider’s Peer Support Groups are for working musicians and music industry professionals to come together in an open (virtual) space to share their experiences with fellow professionals. The sessions are facilitated by a trained psychotherapist who is also a musician.

Common themes covered in the sessions include relational difficulties, performance/general anxiety, working environment stress, social media navigation, loss of identity and financial pressure. Individuals with no experience of working in music are not suitable for these sessions.

Each cohort has a maximum number of 12 participants, all of whom are screened beforehand. The groups are funded by Help Musicians, ensuring that they are fully evaluated and free to access. Participants complete a monitoring form each week for their own self-reflection on mental wellbeing and to monitor the effectiveness of the groups.

The next Peer Support Group will begin on Monday 28 February and will meet online weekly at noon until 1:30 pm for six weeks. Register on the Tonic Music website, you can also email tonicrider@tonicmusic.co.uk with any questions. Other dates and times will be made available soon.

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