Olivia Rodrigo's GUTS Tour included backstage mental health support provided by Amber Health clinicians

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Since Chappell Roan’s Grammys speech in 2025, there’s been heightened discussion about how, exactly, a music company can support the mental health of its artists given that said artists are not employees of the company and may not wish the company to have access to this kind of personal information.

Universal Music Group, the largest music company in the world whose roster includes Taylor Swift, Noah Kahan, Olivia Rodrigo, Bad Bunny, Sabrina Carpenter, Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Drake and, yes, Chappell Roan, recently announced its answer—one that includes not only artists but also executives and support teams across its operations.

The solution— a circle of shared care, access and economic responsibility that streamlines the process to obtaining help from specifically trained clinicians—is a blueprint for companies large and small. Importantly, while UMG is shepherding the effort, the model draws a distinct line between those who are running the business of music and those who are providing the mental health support.

“We would never take that on in-house,” says Susan Mazo, Universal Music Group’s Chief Impact Office. “First of all, an entire community doesn't want one therapist that they're all sharing and the same goes when you're on a tour. It's difficult to only talk to one person if the whole tour is talking to that same person, and do you really want to talk to someone that works at your company about issues that you may be having personally or in the company?”

What’s more, Mazo says, “We're all professionals and schooled at what we do, but being a clinician is not one of them. And so you need to find the experts, and we believe the team that we put together are experts and specifically experts in the music mind and creative mind. They understand what it takes to be on the road, what it takes to support people that are on the road, what it takes to be an artist, the ups and downs of social media, in a different way.”

Enter Amber Health, a company that provides clinical care and counseling tailored for the music and entertainment industry. Co-founded in 2020 by Dr. Chayim Newman and Zack Borer, LMFT, Amber Health has quietly been growing its roster of clinicians who’ve been working behind the scenes primarily on tours and are now expanding their purview. While the company adheres to strict client confidentiality, last year a member of Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS tour shared public thanks for Amber’s support during the run of the tour.

“Because we're clinician-run and have been doing this for a long time, we know what the best quality care looks like and how to take that and maximize it and make it more accessible for larger groups of people at a high-quality level,” Borer says. “And we're very specific about who we bring in. I have a list of 80 clinicians who I have yet to reach out to because they just don't have music industry experience. So the first thing that we'll look for is what your music industry experience is. We'll do many rounds of interviews, and we’ll send them through onboarding and training.”

Amber Health is already supporting 18 tours this summer, primarily through relationships the company has built on its own during the past six years. Through the Universal Music Group partnership, the goal is to scale. UMG now retains Amber Health’s services on a monthly basis and is busy opening doors and arranging meetings with its labels and operations across North America so support is swift and smooth when needed.

“What is so special about our relationship with Amber Health is that one thing doesn't work for everybody, and there is a whole network. So you might talk to someone first as triage and then figure out what your plan is moving forward. And that specialized, really personalized care is so important to everybody,” Mazo says. “The more people who become aware of it as well, the bigger it will get. People have a good experience and they'll share however they choose to share about that experience. And as the stigma passes, or lessens, then it becomes an easier ask than perhaps it was five years ago. That's the hope.”

“Our partnership with UMG has been slow and methodical and intentional to design a system that is scalable and can provide really high quality care, which we don't always see everywhere. They are a true partner and believe that this only works when the relationships between us and the people within the label are strong and nurtured,” Borer says.

“The label has invested a lot of front-end costs to make sure artists have access to consultation and triage. What happens next is a conversation with all of the stakeholders to figure out what the next best steps are to take care of the artists and what their unique needs are,” he adds. “So within the UMG ecosystem, when you reach out you're working with an Amber Health clinician. We're not connecting you to another therapist who has not gone through our clinical training model.”

Those needs are staggering, according to research from Help Musicians UK, Music Industry Research Assn., Musicians' Union and the Journal of Psychiatric Research. Among members of the music industry, 50%-68.5% report depression, a number that’s 7-10 times the general population. Almost three-fourths, 71%, report experiencing anxiety or panic, a rate 4 times the general population. Suicidal thoughts and substance abuse issues are 4X and 2X, respectively, the general population.

Industry-specific risk factors driving the crisis include financial precarity—irregular income, lack of benefits, job insecurity—touring conditions, performance pressure, workplace culture and identity fusion.

Access to resources and financial support is another key quadrant of the circle. Working in tandem with nonprofit organization the Music Health Alliance, UMG in February 2025 launched and funds the Music Industry Mental Health Fund to provide music professionals with access to quality outpatient care, including personalized professional referrals, care coordination, financial grants to offset healthcare costs and extensive wellbeing initiatives.

“They know the right people that are helping this industry and our community, and we really trust this team that we've put together to know who to refer them to,” Mazo says of Nashville-based Music Health Alliance, founded in 2013 by Tatum Allsep.

“When we're dealing with mental health we're really dealing directly with Tatum and her fund but she works very closely with MusiCares also and that's really what it takes. The education, spreading the word… that's going to expand the accessibility and the knowledge that this is available.”

Beyond the groundbreaking work within Universal Music Group, Mazo wants others across the industry and beyond to know this type of mental health ecosystem is both attainable and sustainable.

“I haven’t had one conversation with an executive or a manager where I’ve shared what we’re doing, where someone's asked, ‘Why are you doing that?’ Every single person I talk to says, ‘How can how can we learn more about what you guys are doing? How can we make this part of the process when we're talking to artists?’ They’re very aware of the need for something like this. So on that side of things, there's 100% acceptance.

“I want people to get it. This [model] has taken longer, maybe even, than hiring someone just to work in-house. It's so nuanced and we really needed to make sure that everyone was safe and whoever we're suggesting makes sense for that person,” Mazo says.

“It’s a community issue. It's not a one-person issue. And with the help of organizations and companies like Amber Health, where there is 24-7 wellbeing care tailored specifically for the music industry, if we can spread the word, that this is available—that’s the goal.”