Advancing mental health through music-based research
The Music and Mental Health Research Clinic explores how music can help prevent or improve health and wellbeing for people living with mental illness. Formally launched in 2024, the clinic’s programs address the lack of evidence-based research on the psychosocial and mental health benefits of community music programs as interventions.
How it works
By using standardized research methods and outcome measures, the clinic aims to explore and evaluate the effectiveness of music-based intervention outcomes, including reducing symptoms of anxiety, depression and social isolation across diverse populations.
The vision for the clinic is to integrate community-centered music programs into mental illness treatment, ensuring they are accessible to diverse populations. Through interdisciplinary collaboration and strong community partnerships, the team is working to identify best practices and demonstrate tangible mental health benefits of music interventions. Rigorous research will provide the foundation of validating the impact of these programs and creating sustainable, scalable models for mental illness treatment and support.
Implementation
Since its beginning, the team has focused on increasing its presence in the community and establishing the research component of the program. The community has embraced our music and movement programs launched at The Royal, Bruyère, the Dementia Society and the Vanier Community Service Centre. We have added programs at health institutions, community organizations and, most recently, retirement homes across Canada and around the world.
With the music and movement classes established across a variety of mental health and community care settings, the team has now started collecting research data.
Our early results
We are already seeing promising real-world implications. Preliminary findings from biomarkers, interviews, and weekly self-reported mood and wellbeing scales indicate that participants are experiencing positive emotional and mental health benefits from the classes. We will soon have some results for other mental wellbeing parameters such as depression, anxiety and social engagement which, if found to be impactful, will further support the importance of offering these classes more broadly.
For the hundreds of participants and their caregivers, the music programs have helped create community and connection.
On a policy level, our preliminary results and participant feedback provide evidence that music-based interventions contribute meaningfully to mental illness treatment. As we continue refining our measurement tools and gathering longitudinal data, we aim to inform future models and service designs.
Support research
Donations are essential to the advancement of mental health research and the discovery of new, more impactful treatments for mental illness.
