Specialist tour health support.
Funded by the industry.
Pay It Forward gives eligible artists and crews access to a fully funded package of specialist health and wellbeing support. Delivered by our expert team who understand music and life on the road.
Same pressures. Unequal access.
Long days, disrupted sleep, constant travel, time away from home and little opportunity to recuperate …
Pressures exist at every level of touring. Access to specialist support does not.
Pay It Forward closes that gap.
Up to 50 tours per year
International
Fully funded
What your tour receives
Successful tours receive a specialist Tour Health package, including:
- A Healthy Touring workshop for the touring team
- An occupational health consultation for team leaders
- 10 confidential Tour Check-In sessions (available 24/7)
- Practical and educational resources for the team and its leaders
- Access to our audiobook Touring and Mental Health: The Music Industry Manual
……….
Good touring starts with good planning
Healthy touring isn’t just down to the individual and how they support themselves. How a tour is planned and managed can shape how the team copes under pressure.
Pay It Forward works at three levels:
The tour
An Occupational Health consultation with tour and production managers looks at working conditions, pressure points, preparation and leadership, and what can be put in place to support the team.
The team
A Healthy Touring workshop prepares the whole team for working and living together under intense and changing conditions, with practical strategies for managing pressure, recovery, communication and life on the road.
The individual
Tour Check-Ins are available 24/7 before, during and after the tour. They provide an independent, neutral and confidential conversation where you can offload, think something through, reset or access further support when needed.
Because healthy touring is a shared responsibility.
Why ‘Pay It Forward’?
Pay It Forward began with a simple idea. Artists already using MITC’s touring support began choosing to pay forward their unused Tour Check-Ins, making them available to people working on tours with fewer resources.
That generosity became the blueprint for something bigger: an industry-funded programme through which those with greater resources can help make specialist support available at every level of touring.
Those who can, pay it forward. Those who need it, access it.
Now the live industry’s paying it forward
£272,000 raised
10 Founding Funders
150 tours supported over three years
Our founding funders
Who we are
The Music Industry Therapist Collective CIC (MITC) is a global network of qualified, insured psychotherapists and healthcare practitioners who combine clinical expertise with substantial first-hand experience of working within the music industry.
MITC provides specialist mental health support designed around the realities of working in music, including confidential one-to-one and group support, bespoke workshops, psychoeducation and occupational health consultancy. Its team works internationally with artists, crew, touring professionals and music organisations, helping to reduce barriers to accessing specialist support and assisting businesses in building healthier, more sustainable ways of working across the music industry.
MITC is also the team behind the award-winning publication Touring and Mental Health: The Music Industry Manual (Omnibus Press, 2023) now also available in Spanish and French editions.
Why we’re doing this
We believe mental health support should be available to everyone, not just those with the budget to afford it. Touring life is demanding at all levels, and no one should feel they have to navigate its challenges alone.
Through this philanthropic program, we’re helping to build a healthier, happier, and more connected touring community – one where we provide safe and supportive work environments, for all.
What next?
Planning a tour?
You could qualify for fully funded support – for you and your crew. Find out more about the Pay It Forward Fund and how to access support.
If you’re in the position to support Pay It Forward
We’d love to hear from you. Find out how you can get involved.
You’ll be joining AEG, d&b audiotechnik, Fly By Nite, Live Free 999, Live Nation, Lockton, Philip Selway (Radiohead), The Team and Universal Pixels in helping make mental health and wellbeing support accessible to artists and crew who might otherwise go without it.
Further information
We’ve compiled an FAQ which may answer some of your questions.
To find out more about Pay It Forward, click here to contact MITC directly.