Support Act have today announced a new Wellbeing Helpline, to help Australian musicians going through a hard time. The number is 1800 959 500.

“The launch of this service is in direct response to requests from our colleagues working in music to help improve overall mental health and wellbeing,” said Clive Miller, CEO of Support Act.

“Based on our consultations and research, we believe that a specialised service specifically tailored to the unique challenges faced by artists and music workers will be of enormous benefit to all people working in our industry.”

The helpline will be staffed by professional counsellors who will “offer expertise in all areas related to mental health (e.g. depression, anxiety, addiction, suicidal ideation) as well as issues which can be mental health related (such as loneliness, relationship breakdown, financial worries, illness and workplace conflict).” The service is free and confidential, and will be accessible 24 hours a day, 365 days.

“We are thrilled to see this idea brought to fruition in less than 12 months under the dynamic leadership of Jo Cave and the team at Support Act,” said Emily Albert, Executive Officer at The Tony Foundation, who provided seed money. “We have gone from initial conversations at the BIGSOUND Mental Health Summit last September around how to best support wellbeing in the music industry, to the helpline being made available this week.

“Alberts is delighted to have been able to contribute to enabling this vision to become a reality and to making this much needed service available to people working across the music industry in Australia.”

Visit the official site for more information.

The article was originally published on The Industry Observer