TOURING
Touring brings its own unique dynamics and challenges. Artists and crew work closely together over extended periods of time, share limited personal space, and operate at a fast pace. At the same time, touring creates intense shared experiences, close connections, and memorable moments that make life on the road so unique.
However, the demanding schedule and tightly structured nature of touring often leave little room for mistakes, rest, or illness. Sleep, routines, and individual needs can easily fall by the wayside. Time pressure, physical demands, emotional intensity, and close collaboration can also create additional potential for conflict.
My psychological support therefore takes a holistic approach — before, during, and after a tour. The aim is to support artists and teams in working together in a healthy and sustainable way, even under challenging conditions; to recognize signs of strain at an early stage; and to make use of available resources in a sustainable way.
The support creates space for reflection as well as practical strategies, allowing the unique experiences and connections of life on the road to remain at the center without losing sight of the challenges and pressures that come with them.
TOPICS
PRE-TOUR
Workshops, group and individual counseling
Development and implementation of a Code of Conduct
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Needs assessment and expectation management
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Stress regulation
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Group dynamics
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Healthy communication and conflict management
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Routines and guidelines
ON TOUR
Check-ins, group and individual counseling
Crisis intervention
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Regular check-ins to support and monitor the implementation of agreed measures
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Immediate support through individual counseling and crisis intervention
POST-TOUR
Evaluation, group and individual counseling
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Support with the transition from touring back to everyday life (“tour blues”)
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Reflection on and adjustment of the strategies and measures developed and tested during the tour
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Immediate support through individual counseling and crisis intervention
International Touring Support:
I am an active member of the MITC – Music Industry Therapist Collective, a globally connected collective of therapists with professional backgrounds in the music industry.
Together with my colleagues at MITC, I provide international touring support and backstage artist care, supporting artists and teams across different countries and cultural contexts.
Touring and Mental Health: The Musicindustry Manual
Pay it Forward: Specialist tour health support. Funded by the industry
Soundcheck: Backstage therapy for festivals and tours
ARTIST DEVELOPMENT
A sustainable artist career requires more than musical development and strategic guidance. Psychological support can be an important preventive component of artist development, helping artists build the resources and skills needed to navigate the demands of a career in music.
Especially early in their careers, emerging artists face challenges that can be psychologically demanding: navigating success, failure, and increasing visibility; high expectations and performance pressure; a fast-paced working environment; and the constant evaluation through streams, likes, ticket sales, and social media. Feedback, criticism, comments, hate, and online backlash can add further pressure.
The demands of life on the road can be equally challenging. Peak performance, resilience, maintaining momentum, and the demands of touring may be energizing for many artists, but can also be physically and emotionally exhausting.
Young artists are navigating an important phase of personal development. Developing a sense of identity, becoming independent from the parental home, forming new relationships, moving, and taking on increasing responsibility often coincide with a career that is developing at a rapid pace. There is often little time to pause, reflect on experiences, and stay connected to one’s own needs.
My psychological support for emerging artists takes a proactive and preventive approach from an early stage. It provides a confidential space in which artists can reflect on their experiences, understand and contextualize sources of stress, and develop individual strategies for navigating the demands of the music business. I also provide targeted needs assessments, as well as selected resources, methods, and practical tools.
TOPICS
RESILIENCE
Strengthening individual strengths, resources, and agency
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Developing a clear and realistic understanding of one’s current situation and career status
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Strengthening future- and solution-oriented thinking
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Clarifying one’s personal compass around meaning and value in one’s work
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Recognizing and making use of one’s scope for action and impact on life and career
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Developing and practicing self-regulation strategies for stress and mood fluctuations through concrete methods and tools
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Strengthening important personal and professional relationships, as well as decision-making and conflict-management skills
FOCUS AREAS:
Targeted preparation for and conscious navigation of specific professional and age-related challenges
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Stress and performance pressure
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Success, failure, fame, and visibility
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Feedback, criticism, hate, and online backlash
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Changes in relationships and building reliable professional collaborations
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Changes and conflicts within family, friendships, and romantic relationships
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Parasocial relationships and communication with fans
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Fluctuations in self-esteem and imposter syndrome
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Artist identity
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Peak performance and performance anxiety
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Touring
I am the Psychological Lead and responsible for the concept and content development of BRIDGES, a prevention program by Universal Music Germany.
The website’s Open Source section includes a selection of materials I have developed to strengthen resilience, as well as modules designed to support a resilient approach to stress and pressure, fame and success, and criticism and social