Tonic Music for Mental Health
Tonic Ska Choir
The uplifting Tonic Ska Choir provides opportunities to experience the benefits of communal singing. The choir is an inclusive and welcoming group open to new members of all abilities.
Story
Tonic Music for Mental Health is a charity based on the south coast of England. We raise mental health awareness, challenge stigma and promote mental wellbeing through music and the arts. We already have a proud history and have helped many isolated and vulnerable people in our community.
Tonic Ska Choir
The uplifting Tonic Ska Choir provides opportunities to experience the benefits of communal singing. The choir is an inclusive and welcoming group open to new members of all abilities.
Communal singing can promote a positive mood and reduce feelings of stress and anxiety. Our choir participants build their resilience, self-esteem and confidence through positive risk-taking, accomplishment and artistic expression.
Tonic Music for Mental Health
Tonic Music for Mental Health was founded upon the belief that participation in music and the arts can aid people in their recovery from mental illness.
Many of our participants have previously been admitted to hospital and use Tonic as their way of staying well. Others use Tonic to aid their transition back into the workplace after a period of mental ill health. Many more have made new friends and built a support network through Tonic.
By providing opportunities for members of our community to participate in music and the arts, we directly support them on their journeys of recovery.
We help people to build their resilience, self-worth and confidence through positive risk-taking, accomplishment and artistic expression.
Testimonials
Over the coming weeks we became more than just a choir - we became a family. It was about more than just singing, we were looking after each other as well.
The ska choir is not only about raising my own spirits and wellbeing. I take great pride in sharing the happiness with those around me, and the audiences we have entertained.
Within the first few minutes I knew I was in the right place. The atmosphere was light and inclusive, the leaders enthusiastic and encouraging, and when the singing kicked in you couldn't help but feel a lift both mentally and physically. Finding the choir when I did was so important to me. It gave me something genuinely good to hold on to during a very dark period. It bought me time to recover, whilst also boosting my self-esteem and speeding my recovery. I'm truly grateful to Tonic for that.
It gives me a sense of belonging, a sense of community, and a safe place to go where my anxiety and mental health problems are accepted as a part of me - they are nothing to be ashamed of.