MENTAL HEALTH Music for the Mind


Daniel Thomas, Managing Director at Chroma, explains how music therapy is revolutionising mental health in the workplace, increasing productivity and leading to higher staff retention.


Declining mental health in the UK’s under-40 workforce has seen telehealth platforms such as Isofi take off in a big way.


TELUS Mental Health Index recently published findings relating to young workers in the UK. It highlighted that workers under 40 are 80% more likely to lack trusted workplace relationships compared to workers over 50 impacting loneliness and isolation – factors of which impact both health and workplace productivity.


The research also found that: 33% of UK workers have high mental health risk; workers without trusted workplace relationships are three and a half times more likely to feel isolated at work and over 20% of workers in the UK feel their workplace lacks support.


However, while 20% of workers feel their employer’s mental health benefits are poor, it was found that employers who support employee wellbeing experience a range of positive outcomes including increased productivity, reduced absenteeism and improved talent retention.


The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) also states mental health issues affect at least one in four people at work and is a leading cause of long-term absence and agrees, employers who support the mental wellbeing of staff benefit from greater staff productivity, higher levels of morale and retention, reduced sickness absence and 'presenteeism'.


In light of these findings, Isofi, an AI-driven telehealth platform and service, assists music therapists to deliver music therapy sessions to employees in a range of businesses to support their mental wellbeing, whilst supporting businesses’ existing Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs).


Isofi quickly creates intentional, personalised playlists based on people’s preferred music using artists’ current output in streaming services developing playlist-based coping strategies for anxiety and common stresses.


Delivered by qualified music therapists, including those from Chroma, the UKs leading arts therapy provider, sessions serve as a prevention and early intervention for mental health.


The accessible approach to music therapy is an ideal way to reach people in a non-clinical, personable style. With Isofi, people can use their own music tastes and choices to ‘effectively’ improve their mental state.


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Younger people tend to find it harder to reach for therapy assistance, but they oſten turn to music to improve mood as they feel it is an effective approach to improve mental wellbeing, which is why Isofi is currently focused on engaging Gen Z and Millennials in the workplace, although, it’s application possibilities can be adopted to any populations.


Using the client’s streaming service, Isofi taps into a person’s playlists, and based on the coping strategy they require, generates music playlists that can actually help improve their mental state.


During one-to-one remote sessions, music therapists guide each individual through the process, while discussing their workplace-related mental health issues, for example anxiety or stress, and explain the ways in which the newly developed playlists can help support them mentally.


The beauty of it is that these playlists can be accessed anywhere, at any time, not just during the music therapy sessions, so employees can implement the coping mechanisms described by the therapists any time of the day, which will serve to support their overall mental wellbeing at work.


“33% of UK workers have high mental health risk.”


Isofi offers a revolutionary means to deliver music therapy to the masses whilst addressing mental health issues in the workplace. Creating an inclusive and supportive work environment offers employers the chance to influence the mental wellbeing of their team, and as a result, help improve workplace productivity whilst reducing high incidences of absenteeism.


https://wearechroma.com www.tomorrowscare.co.uk


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