Well, it has been another strange year hasn’t it? The pandemic has now probably been a feature in the majority of our (HMT’s) time in existence and that has caused a few things to be different to how we might have imagined. Still, there have been a few exciting developments and aspects of growth, and a few more to come. Despite everything, this year we managed to do a few things:
- We started the year off with an essay published in the Lancet Psychiatry featuring HMT. This was one of a record year with us for publications, we have had mentions or produced things for the British Association of Music Therapy, Asylum Magazine, WARO, Soundsphere Magazine, the Hearing Voices Network newsletter, the International Society for Metal Music Studies, Community Psychology, Metal Digest and the Awesome Metalcore Therapy Chapter in the Practical Handbook of Hearing Voices. We also shared the first bit of research completed with our very own Moshpit members
- We recorded podcasts and interviews for the site and also as guests – Music on Your Own Terms, This is Nursing, Death Comes Lifting, Mostly Mad Music, Born to Bleed, Of Wolves, Patch Amnesty, Proper Madness, The Demons Within
- We built new playlists with you on metal from diverse cultures, best metal covers, Christian metal, death metal, doom, guilt/shame, gaming, confidence, autism and thrash
- We did features on your own music and your battle vests!
- We spoke to people at workshops, on live-streams and for the World Metal Congress. We started a peer support group online and launched Dismember December.
- We created resources for student mental health and our own set for the website – A place for my head. And a satirical manual of course!
- This was the first year that we had a physical stall and presence at Primordial Radio AGM, and we nipped into Bloodstock to say hello to a few of you
So that’s quite a few things! Next year we are planning to launch our own podcast/radio show among a few other projects. As usual we have a big list of thankyous – we’ve tagged as many of you on socials we can, and sent out a few certificates of appreciation 🙂
Heavy Metal Therapy 