Brass on the Mind

24/12/2025

Wishing all my banding friends a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.

Thank you to everyone that has supported us this year and helped to protect the mental health of brass band musicians. 🙏🏼

A special thank you to everyone that has enrolled in the Certificate of Brass Band Mental Health course since we launched it. We now have well over 300 mental health and wellbeing leads in bands and edge closer to the target of training 1000 people for FREE by 2027.

You can enrol for FREE at www.brassonthemind.co.uk

This Christmas, please take a moment to drop a message to someone who may be lonely, struggling or you haven’t heard from for a while. This time of year can be hard for many people, but together we can make people feel more connected.

Keep in touch with your banding friends as you have a few well earned weeks out of the bandroom. They may just need you more now than ever.

Thank you and much love.
Tabby ###

19/12/2025

Let’s all help Sarah with her research please 🙏🏼

HELP PLEASE!! 😊
One of our wonderful Northumbria University students, Sarah, is looking for some help with research for her dissertation.
Please read her request below and complete the study if you are able to.
Please also share Sarah’s request with your own band members. 🙏
Thank you so much for your help.

Hi all,
I hope that you are all enjoying the festive period!
As part of my final year of my undergraduate degree, I am conducting a study for my dissertation exploring the effects of playing in a brass band on players’ mental health, wellbeing, and social support.
The survey includes questions about your experiences of playing in brass bands, as well as questions relating to mental health, wellbeing, and social support.
I would be very grateful if you could take the time to complete the survey using the link below. I would also really appreciate it if you could share the link with anyone you know who currently plays, or has previously played, in a brass band.
https://nupsych.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_baaYSNfX5mFPw4C
Many thanks,
Sarah

04/12/2025

This Grief Awareness Week, a gentle reminder to make the space for grief in our bands and remember that there is no timeline or guideline for grief.

🎺🎺🎺🎺🎺🎺

To better protect the mental health of brass band musicians and support people with their mental health and grief, enrol in the Certificate for Mental Health and Wellbeing in Brass Bands course for FREE at www.brassonthemind.co.uk

02/12/2025

Hey there banding friends!

Thanks so much for the love and comments on the video I posted about loneliness in bands last week… now let’s open up another discussion… about grief…

Today marks the start of Grief Awareness Week so what better time?

Bands have been a huge part of my grief journey - for good and bad - but I think sometimes we can still be a little scared or unsure of how to support people in their grief - especially as we all need something different.

But in the main, bands make wonderful support networks. So thank you to you all for that.🙏🏼

Maybe, together, we can start to do a little more? I’m here to help you and help protect the mental health of our brass band musicians.

Don’t forget you can get FREE access to the Certificate in Brass Band Mental Health and wellbeing at www.brassonthemind.co.uk

Oh… and if you didn’t know… in October I became one of the first British banders (or maybe the first 🤔TBC!) to deliver a TEDx talk - I’d love for you to give it a watch 🙏🏼 just hop on over to YouTube and search for me… or pop TED in the comments and I’ll send you the link!

If you want any FREE grief resources just let me know and I’ll drop them into your inbox 🔗

01/12/2025

We LOVE this.
Thank you Redruth Town Band 🙏🏼

Mental Health Awareness is something that matters all year round.
Over the past few months, members of the committee and band — Kev, Katie, and Hannah — have completed the Perform Certificate in Brass Band Mental Health & Wellbeing.
A huge Thankyou to Tabby Kerwin at Brass on the Mind for facilitating ❤️

This training equips them with greater understanding, tools, and confidence to support the wellbeing of our band community. We’re proud of their commitment to fostering a healthier, more supportive environment for everyone. 💚

23/11/2025

20/11/2025

Just because players in your band turn up and are surrounded by other people, doesn’t mean they don’t feel lonely…..

Yep, you read that right…

It’s common for people in organisations, like bands, to feel lonely and isolated even though they are surrounded by others.

I get it, I’ve felt it too - and that sense of loneliness and a lack of connection is a huge driver for poor mental health.

Plus, these feelings can be heightened around the festive period.

So please 🙏🏼 as we spend more time together in our bands over the thousands of Christmas gigs we will collectively give in the next few weeks, take a moment to check in with EVERY member of your band. Don’t just assume that because they are busy or surrounded by friends, family or colleagues that they don’t feel lonely or disconnected because what’s going on for them.

Check in… it’s that simple. Ask what they have going on and have an intention to listen to them. Just knowing someone is willing to listen can change so much for someone.

No one should ever have to feel lonely, especially in our bands

Thank you 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Tabby x

09/11/2025

We Will Remember Them

“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.”

Thank you to every band and bandsperson who today takes part in the most important event of the year.

Our bands play such an important role in Services of Remembrance.

07/11/2025

An important reminder for banders on these long, dark winter nights.

I know of many people (ina md out of bands) who don’t feel safe at night in the dark. They feel more vulnerable walking alone to their car, or locking up the bandroom late at night. They won’t go out after 5pm or go for a run like they normally would before or after work.

Yes, they are mainly women, but not exclusively women.

I also know how vulnerable I felt a few years ago in those exact moments following my experience with some online harassment and stalking from someone in bands, which is why I want to share this reminder with you now. The moment one of my fellow players asked if I was OK getting to my car is a moment that has stuck in my mind and made me feel so much safer.

Full disclosure though around that time I was at a contest and didn’t go to join friends in the pub because I’d got delayed helping someone and didn’t want to walk by myself. So I drove home instead where I could feel safer.

I don’t want anyone to feel like that. So let’s work together and keep people safe.

Let’s make everyone in our bands feel safe.
Let’s take a moment to check in with each other.
Let’s set aside anxious feelings where we can.
Let’s just be kind and caring when we can be.

Situations where we don’t feel safe can hugely influence our mental health. So let’s work together to make things safer and easier where we can in order to protect the mental health of our brass band musicians.

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Please consider signing-up for the FREE Certificate in Brass Band Mental Health & Wellbeing course.

With a mission to train 1000 mental health and wellbeing leads in brass bands by 2027 we are well on our way, but we need you.

Why not learn more and become a wellbeing lead yourself for FREE?

If you are connected to brass bands and want to learn more you can enrol in the CPD accredited Certificate in Brass Band Mental Health course for FREE at

www.brassonthemind.co.uk