Strolling through the festival grounds at Austin City Limits, I am reminded how important this topic is. The Touring Career Workshop has set up a booth that provides free onsite counseling for touring professionals. At one point, I had imagined that the pandemic would allow us to reshape our priorities and acknowledge that our species does not thrive in a constant state of overstimulation. But here we are again. Behind the glitz and glamour, our fellow crewmembers continue to face some peculiar mental health challenges that need a spotlight. The three most urgent problems affecting the mental well-being of our backstage compadres are the elusive therapist hunt, the stigma that’s more stubborn than a rusty C-clamp, and the lonely road we wander on.
Addressing Limited Access to Therapists
Our quest for therapists sometimes feels like searching for the mythical sound engineer who knows the perfect mix. The industry is slowly coming to its senses, realizing that mental health support is as crucial as a well-timed random strobe. Finding a therapist who really ‘gets it’ and isn’t starry eyed when you talk about your job, can feel like looking for a needle in a haystack. Luckily, times are changing and there are some excellent organizations providing care to people who work in the live music industry.
In 2018, Tamsin Embleton set up an organization called Music Industry Therapist Collective (now based in several U.S. states, across the UK, Germany, and Spain). MITC offers specialist psychotherapy and psychology to the music business. All of the MITC therapists have previously worked in the music business prior to retraining. Working with a therapist who has lived experience of working in the industry saves time—they’re more likely to have a good grasp of the stressors, pressures, and motivations behind why we work in the music business. This shared frame of reference can help us build a swift rapport and improve therapeutic outcomes. MITC offers backstage health services at festivals through the initiative MITC Soundcheck and they have recently released the landmark publication the Touring and Mental Health: the Music Industry Manual, which provides robust advice for tackling a wide range of physical, psychological, and social problems that can occur as a result of touring.
In the U.S. there are various organizations offering a variety of support including Behind the Scenes, the Roadie Clinic, MusiCares, Sweet Relief, Backline, and organizations in specific states like the Musicians Health Alliance (Tennessee), Passenger Recovery (Michigan), and the SIMS Foundation (Texas). In the UK there are Stagehand, Backup Tech, Royal Society of Musicians of GB, Music Minds Matter, Music Support and British Association for Performing Arts Medicine.
Building Relationships Quickly
We’re not alone in this rock opera. It’s never too late to break free from that hotel room cocoon and embrace the world outside. A little human interaction can go a long way. As touring professionals, our list of potential friends is often limited by the crew roster. We are often faced with the need to build temporary relationships quickly. We often have to let go of those relationships as quickly as we made them. Relationships on the road can be transient, but you’ll probably come across a few people you really click with. Maintain those relationships by checking in every so often—even if you’re on different tours. Many people that were interviewed for Touring and Mental Health: The Music Industry Manual described how their mentors were a valuable resource in times of need. Cultivating relationships off the road can be challenging while in different headspaces and/or time zones but we must try.
Cliques form easily on the road. Try to shake things up a bit by sitting with someone you don’t usually eat with in catering, or taking a stroll with someone you think looks a bit down. See if you can pay close attention to what they’re saying without hijacking the conversation with your own experience. Try to keep a level head under stress—which will make you seem more approachable and have benefits for how you collaborate and problem-solve.
Respecting Personal Boundaries & Choices
For better or worse, the quickest way to build relationships can be over a few drinks. Dusting off the daily stress can be expedited by a few swigs of chill-out juice. However, we don’t need to be the last one standing to relieve stress. In fact, a pattern of habitually closing down the bar can increase our anxieties and decrease our motivation to combat the underlying issues that cause mental stress. Saying “no” to that Nth tequila shot won’t make us any less of a rockstar.
Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, inducing a sense of relaxation and reducing inhibitions (which can assist socially—up to a point). The problem is that the benefits are often short-lived. For example, though alcohol might help us to get to sleep, the quality of our sleep will be impaired, so we may wake up feeling fatigued. Hangover symptoms include increased anxiety and lowered mood, headaches, nausea, irritability, sweating, thirst, muscle aches, and increased blood pressure. Not ideal when we’ve got an early lobby call.
If the culture on your tour uses alcohol to celebrate, commiserate, and wind-down, you may begin to rely on it as a coping strategy. Dependencies can turn into addictions. Addiction often co-occurs with other mental health problems such as anxiety or depression—in fact, around half of people who are diagnosed with a substance use disorder meet the criteria for a second mental health disorder. Reducing alcohol intake may help us to better manage symptoms of depression or anxiety.
Building Strong Communication Skills
Despite what previous generations told us, there’s no shame in asking for a little help. We have all been told that if we don’t know how to plugin in a 400-amp service correctly, then we should ask the electrician. The same goes for mental health. Don’t hesitate to reach out when you need it. Whether it’s a heartfelt chat with a coworker or a virtual therapy session, it’s all about finding the help we need. Many touring people report feeling lonely on the road, despite being constantly surrounded by other people. This is because loneliness is less about the frequency of social contact, but more about the quality and depth of these connections. When we feel lonely—the body experiences it as a threat, increasing cortisol. Loneliness can impact our immune systems, our sleep cycles, our weight and even our heart health, so it’s worth paying attention to.
Touring can make establishing and maintaining relationships harder due to the cycles of separation and reunion, the physical and psychological distance between you and those at home, and various other factors. If you find relationships tricky, you may find it beneficial to work with a therapist who can help you to identify expectations, patterns and communication strategies which might be getting in the way. If you can move past blocks like preconceptions of therapy or shame of asking for help, you may discover that therapy can be a richly illuminating experience—helping you to heal from past hurts and live life in a more fulfilling way. If you’d rather go for peer support, try something like Suzi Green’s the Back Lounge.
