Music course boosts vulnerable people's confidence
BBCA music course that supports people who face disadvantages such as homelessness and addiction has been praised by participants who said it helped them turn their lives around.
Musication was launched by Tang Hall SMART community interest company in York and focuses on learning, rebuilding confidence and creating a sense of belonging.
Alex Jackson said his life was a destructive daily pattern of drinking, sofa surfing and drugs before he joined the course.
"If someone would have said this is where I would eventually be, that I'd be happy, healthier and playing music, then I would have said 'no way'," the 31-year-old said.
"I'd wake up, figure out how to get a sofa to stay on, and I'd think I can't get anywhere to stay so I'll just get drunk. I just kept doing that cycle," he said.
"I felt lost, I didn't know what I was doing in life and I was going down a bad path."
Using music had long been a coping mechanism for Jackson, but with no access to instruments or a place to sing, he was unable to express himself.
When he met Sue Williamson, founder and chief executive Tang Hall SMART, he got more than just an opportunity to sing and write songs.
Williamson said: "People join us to do music first but then they stay for other things.
"We do employability support, practical advice and support and lots of other things.
"We stand alongside people and support them all the way through until they get to where they want to be."
It was a similar story for Jonathan Tate, who joined the course after a period of time in rehabilitation for drug and alcohol addiction.
"I'd always played music and written it just as a way of processing things," he said.
"It's really brought me out of myself. It got me used to performing in front of people again, my belief in not only myself but my confidence in my voice and lyrics."
Two years on since joining, the 41-year-old has been able to write and record his own music and had a positive response.
Another person to benefit is Tim Phillips, who said he found his way on to the course after coming off prescription drugs which he had been taking for 22 years.
"I lost my way and suffered from psychosis and then found out I had a mental health condition," he said.
"I found my way to Tang Hall and things snowballed from there."
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