The Scottish Brass Band Association (SBBA) has announced that it will hold a second 'Mental Health & Wellbeing' workshop.

It follows the success of the inaugural event in June 2021 and will once again be hosted via the Zoom platform by Mental Health First Aid England (MHFAE) instructor and advocate Tabby Kerwin.

Time and place

The second workshop will be held on Tuesday 24th May, starting at 7.00pm.

The first event was held against the backdrop of prolonged isolation and enforced separation from family, friends and music colleagues during the Coronavirus lockdown, with SBBA identifying the need to pioneer a positive mental health and wellbeing strategy for member bands.

Feedback was extremely positive and a Facebook group for delegates has since been set up as a support network.

Importance

Lesley Crumlish, secretary of SBBA's West of Scotland association, who is leading the initiative, explained to 4BR: "SBBA recognises the importance of supporting the mental health of its musicians, and has developed a strategy to make subsidised mental health awareness training available to all its member bands.

Our programme will not just make musicians more aware of mental health, but also give them active and practical wellbeing skills to help members to be healthy and flourish."

Workshop design

SBBA was the first brass band organisation in the United Kingdom to make fully subsidised mental health awareness training available to its members.

Each workshop is designed for a maximum of 20 people at a time and where Tabby uses national and international statistics, expert information in mental health and elements of science and positive psychology to inform the content of the sessions.

The first part of the course covers mental health awareness before moving on to wellbeing and self-care with a specific focus on the needs of musicians.

The first part of the course covers mental health awareness before moving on to wellbeing and self-care with a specific focus on the needs of musiciansSBBA

Get in touch

Bands should contact Lesley at sbbawellbeing@gmail.com with their nominated attendee(s).

While free course spaces are limited to one per band, further places are available at a cost of £30/head should bands have more than one interested party.