About us

key changes

We provide music and mental health programmes in hospitals and healthcare settings, professional recording studios, community venues, cultural spaces, and online, helping people express themselves, build confidence, and connect through creativity.

Our trauma-informed, person-centred approach supports individuals to develop creative and vocational skills while improving confidence, resilience, and social connection.

We specialise in supporting communities most affected by mental health inequalities, including people who are economically disadvantaged, homeless, neurodiverse, LGBTQ+, racialised, refugees, care leavers, veterans, and individuals in the criminal justice system.

More than 80% of our participants come from low-income and global majority backgrounds, with around half first engaging while detained under the Mental Health Act.

Our mission is to harness the power of music for recovery — tackling health inequalities, social injustice, stigma, and discrimination by developing creative skills, strengthening community connections, and opening pathways to new opportunities in life and work.

Our Journey

Key Changes began as a single hospital music workshop in an occupational therapy department. We have since grown into a registered charity delivering creative health programmes across London, Manchester, Birmingham, and Brighton—supporting over 5,000 people every year.

Our work includes:

  • Music mentoring programmes in hospitals and communities

  • Volunteering, peer mentoring, and work experience opportunities

  • A record label for artists with lived experience of mental ill health

  • Concerts and open mics in healthcare and community settings

All our work is co-produced with participants and delivered by specially trained musicians, producers, and industry experts, in partnership with healthcare, community and cultural organisations.

Our story

2003

Formed by patients at Highgate Mental Health Centre in North London to bring music and creativity to the wards.

A simple weekly jam in the hospital’s OT department grew into music workshops, DJ sessions, and live ward performances.

2008

As services were requested by other hospitals across London and a new community music mentoring programme began, the charity officially became known as Key Changes.

2010

Services expanded across London with our first regional projects taking place.
We received the Linda Polan Award for community service and a commendation from Arsenal in the Community for our Football and Music project.

2012

New services launched in Bury, Sheffield, and Woking.
We presented at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, received the Positive Practice in Mental Health Community Award, and earned a commendation from NHS London for our Asthma Rap campaign.

2013

A new studio in London was gifted by the Amy Winehouse Foundation.

2016

New services start in Birmingham & Bristol; Performance at City Hall, London; feature on BBC The One Show.

2019

Presentation at the National Institute for Mental Health and launch of Key Changes Records, our label celebrating artists with lived experience.

2020

Recognised for innovation during the pandemic — shortlisted for the Gulbenkian Award for Civic Arts and featured on Sky News.

2021

New studios opened in Brixton and Hounslow, a new project launched in Brighton, and a new office and studio established in Manchester.

2023

Opened a new studio in Finsbury Park, London, and presented at the Voices of the Oppressed Conference in Prague.

2024

New services launched in Crawley and Ashton-under-Lyne, a studio space donated by Warp Records, and a presentation at the NCEL CAMHS Conference at Toynbee Hall, London.

2025

Skills Bootcamp Access to Employment project launched.
Presentation at the Baring Foundation’s Creatively Minded Men conference.
Music and Mental Health Podcast released.
Rhythm and Rise peer support group established for global majority musicians.

Recognition, Media and Industry Support

Our work has been widely recognised by the NHS, local authorities, and the Department of Health, and has been showcased at major national conferences and forums, including:

  • Mayor of London City Hall Health Summit

  • Institute of Mental Health: Power of Music in Healthcare

  • London Arts in Health Forum

  • Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance

  • Institute of Psychiatry

  • Baring Foundation’s Creatively Minded & Ethnically Diverse report

We have also been featured across leading media platforms, with coverage in:

  • BBC One – The One Show

  • Sky News, ITV News, BBC London News

  • BBC Three – Being Black, Going Crazy

  • GRM Daily, LinkUp TV, The Quietus, Trench magazine

A short film about our work, produced by The Media Trust, was nominated for the Smiley Charity Film Awards (2024).

key changes

Our programmes have been supported by a strong network of music industry partners and professionals, including: BTS One In An Army, Nao, Zara Macfarlane, Pirate Studios, Qube, Ten87 Studios, Tru Thoughts, Warp Music Publishing, Focusrite, Soundtoys, Richer Sounds, Band on the Wall, Last Night a DJ Saved My Life Foundation, and many others.

key changes

Our programmes have been supported by a strong network of music industry partners and professionals, including: BTS One In An Army, Nao, Zara Macfarlane, Pirate Studios, Qube, Ten87 Studios, Tru Thoughts, Warp Music Publishing, Focusrite, Soundtoys, Richer Sounds, Band on the Wall, Last Night a DJ Saved My Life Foundation, and many others.

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