The UK-based charity Mind is launching a new project with the help of Sony Music UK to investigate mental health treatments for kids affected by racism.
According to Sony Music, the study will be customized to assist young people who encounter racism in dealing with their mental health issues, as well as how racism and racial trauma affect mental health and the ideal intervention and support plan.
“This is the first time a music company has partnered with a mental health charity to commission research on the effects of discrimination,” Sony Music says.
The Young People and Racial Trauma project is one of the latest groups of grants from Sony Music’s UK Social Justice Fund, a global Sony Music Group initiative to support disadvantaged communities and help tackle structural inequality.
In June 2020, Sony Music Group’s Global Social Justice Fund (SJF) was established to address racial injustice across the world.
The Fondo Guadalupe Musalem in Brazil, Pour 3 Points in Canada, Key4Life and Young Urban Arts Foundation in the United Kingdom, Advancement Project and Race Forward in the US are just a few of the organizations that have received funding through SJF’s $100 million initiative.
Since its inception, the Social Justice Fund’s UK arm has given more than $1 million in support to 16 project.
The Runnymede Trust and the London-based charity OnSide Youth Zone received funding for this latest round of investment.
Runnymede will study “structural barriers” to black, brown, and ethnically diverse artists’ success in genres where they are under-represented, according to the partnership with Sony Music UK. It will also look at “mis-genreing,” when individuals are mis-classified by social identifiers.
The new project is an addition of an interdisciplinary research study to be performed by Mind and OnSide.
“We know that there is a link between discrimination and mental health issues, but we don’t know the full impact of how ethnic discrimination affects mental health or what support would make the biggest difference,” said Barbara Keeley, Minister for Mental Health and Inequalities.
“We are proud to be funding this research, which will help us identify the support that is most effective for young people experiencing mental health issues as a result of discrimination.”
Onside says it works with youth, “to explore their identities in relation to race, power and social justice issues”. The organization adds that, “Our aim is to provide a safe space where they can explore their identities, opinions and experiences safely.”
Sony Music says the findings will inform efforts to “dismantle barriers and drive understanding within the music industry to enact long-term change for future artists and their listeners”.
Meanwhile, with music mentoring programs funded in three London Youth Zones – Croydon, Barnet and Barking and Dagenham – OnSide will be aided.
“I am delighted that OnSide will be using the findings of this study to inform their work with young people to help them understand how discrimination affects mental health,” Keeley said.
“We are also looking forward to working closely with Mind and other professionals in order to identify what works best when supporting someone who experiences racism.”
The Young People and Racial Trauma study is the last of four research projects commissioned by Sony Music UK’s SJF.
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