HeartSupport launches innovative band training program to equip musicians to talk about mental health
Conversations about mental health have long been baked into the way bands and fans interface in the heavy music world. With rock and metal so often addressing deeply personal topics like depression, anxiety, addiction, and suicide, listeners are likely to find a sense of solidarity if they’ve lived through those experiences in the past. Often, it sparks conversations with the artists: both at merch tables and online.
That exact experience led August Burns Red singer Jake Luhrs to found HeartSupport. It became his way to formalize mental health help for fans long after the lights went down on a concert’s encore.
But August Burns Red is not the only one with that dynamic with their fans, that same need.
That’s why HeartSupport’s Band Training Program is now live.
This program is for any band, at any level, who wants to be better equipped to talk comfortably with their fans about mental health and offer real longterm support afterwards. Bands who enroll complete an evidence-backed, expert training program that builds on the proven training HeartSupport volunteer repliers have already been using. Tips and tricks specific to the context of musicians are added throughout. The training holds three hours of content, to be completed on a band’s own time.
Once a band is trained, they have the ability to connect their fans to live peer support through HeartSupport. As their community hits milestones with growing engagement, the band will have access to HeartSupport-hosted industry masterclasses and more.
At every step, bands have access to the HeartSupport team to ask questions and find support— in particular, they can talk to someone who has been there.
Bryce Maopolski is on the programs team at HeartSupport, and he is also a member of the band Brotality. When he started dreaming about a band training program with the rest of the team, he put his own band forward to serve as the test case.
“I wanted to find a way that HeartSupport could partner with ANY band, not just the big bands,” Bryce explains. “For the past year, we’ve been brainstorming it, getting it ready. Any band, whether they just had their first rehearsal in a garage or they’ve been around for years, can partner with HeartSupport to get trained and help heal the scene.”
Brotality has found the fit to be a natural one.
Bryce says:
“Honestly, it’s revolutionized the way that I talk to fans. There have been so many times before when someone would come up after a show and say ‘that song really resonated with me,’ then they’ll start opening up. In the past, someone would open up about suicide, self-harm, and PTSD. I would feel like, ‘Oh man, what do I say, I haven’t gone through that.’ But after the training I feel equipped and confident to have those conversations at the merch table and online to give people that support. I can point them to our custom text link, then they can get further support from HeartSupport. At 25 replies, bands get a custom text number. Anybody can text that number reaching out, and HeartSupport’s volunteer base will support them.”
{Photos by Andrew Bernabe}
That’s the kind of revolution HeartSupport aims to scale to heal the scene as a whole. More bands are already enrolling, beginning to equip themselves to offer love and compassion to fans in an expert way.
Once bands hit 100 replies from their fan base, they’re considered a graduated HeartSupport band. They will be listed on the website, get added to an official playlist, and have extra opportunities to pair music with mental health. Bands in the program can even network with each other to trade tips and build tours and benefit shows.
If you’re a musician at any level who is ready to take the next step in supporting your fans’ mental health, enroll in the program today at heartsupport.com/bands. HeartSupport’s community is ready to embrace your fans in their most difficult moments and give you the confidence to do the same.
