In this section

The crisis we can’t ignore

When help comes too late

Independent Review of Curriculum and Assessment

The Children’s Wellbeing Bill

What practitioners are seeing

The evidence – what we already know (and don’t)

The crisis we can’t ignore

Young people are struggling – and they’re telling us so. They are experiencing the poorest mental health of any age group in the UK. One in three young people aged 18-24 report symptoms of anxiety and/or depression, and this rises to two in five for young women.

Mental health problems can also be both caused and compounded by a range of other intersecting circumstances, including child poverty, cost of living, care experience, displacement, neurodivergence, discrimination, disability, grief and loss, early life (or current) trauma.

Our young generation has been, and continues to be, in a mental health crisis, and the way we respond to a crisis is different from the way we respond to a general need. This places the context of singing for children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing in a place of seriousness, challenge and opportunity.

A further challenge is that interventions at the more specialist levels of CAMHS (Tiers 3 and 4, which include community mental health teams and inpatient services) are likely to focus on medicalisation, whereas we believe singing has a role to play across the full spectrum of mental health support – from general wellbeing, through prevention, to active response to mental ill-health.

On Inspiring Voices, the Sing Up Foundation Podcast, practitioner Chris Morris spoke about a young person in an adolescent secure unit who said he felt that the music practitioner was the only person who heard and understood him without medicalising him. Chris reflects on how clinical systems can miss what music offers:

This is not to say that nothing is being done. The UK Government is investing in mental health support in

schools, and the music education sector is constantly improving its provision for young people who are

struggling. But the creative and musical dimensions of young people’s lives often remain invisible to the

clinical system – which creates both a challenge and an opportunity for the wider youth and music education sector.

There are signs the policy landscape may be shifting. The UK Government’s November 2025 Curriculum

& Assessment Review acknowledges that curriculum alone cannot meet children’s diverse needs, and explicitly calls for schools to have ‘time and space’ beyond curriculum specifications for enrichment and responsive practice. The parallel Children’s Wellbeing Bill signals growing Government recognition of schools’ role in mental health support. Together, these create conditions for singing-based interventions to be seen as essential provision rather than optional extras, although translating policy into practice will require sustained advocacy and infrastructure development. As ex-National Singing Ambassador Howard Goodall reflects, the response may involve rediscovering approaches that counter some of the pressures young people face:

What practitioners are seeing

There were already signs before 2020 that children and young people’s mental health was under pressure, indeed it was one of the reasons the Sing Up Foundation began focusing exclusively on singing for mental health in 2018. The pandemic period – with its lockdowns, school closures, family stress and reduced access to services – is widely believed to have exacerbated these pressures. Several years later, whatever the causes, practitioners now report increases in specific challenging behaviours, including heightened fearful/anxious behaviour, withdrawn/social isolation, aggressive behaviour, acting out and friendship breakdown.

In our January 2026 survey, respondents reported the mental health issues they’re encountering most frequently: anxiety (92%), mental health challenges influenced by environments for those with autism spectrum conditions (86%) and ADHD (86%), low self-esteem/confidence (83%), and aggressive or challenging behaviour (63%) (n=162).

When we surveyed Sing Up Foundation subscribers in 202 (n=145), 82% believed that singing had a role in supporting mental health, but only 26% felt ‘very prepared’ to do this work, while some felt unsure about how singing work focussed on wellbeing would differ from general school choirs. In our January 2026 survey, 70% of respondents reported wanting support, resources and guidance about singing specifically for mental health.

This identified need is not a failure of practitioners – it’s a gap in the sector’s infrastructure for training and support, and this publication responds directly to that expressed need.

The evidence – what we already know (and don’t)

There is a wealth of evidence about the wellbeing benefits of singing, and most people understand that it has the power to make us feel good, build community and bring joy. Given that humans have used singing to bond, communicate and express emotion (as well as develop their singing voices, musicality and creativity) for as long as we’ve walked the earth, singing belongs right at the heart of what it means to be human, and is an invaluable element of human connection. It, literally and figuratively, gives us a voice.

Research is beginning to catch up with what practitioners have long observed. Professor Daisy Fancourt’s epidemiological work at UCL has tracked these relationships across time:

What’s less well understood is the deeper question: can singing do more than make us feel good? Can it be part of a genuine, transformational response to mental health challenges? Our subscribers see a role for singing in supporting mental health, but this potential doesn’t seem to be more widely recognised within education.

A comprehensive evidence base supporting the role of youth sector provision (including the arts) in mental health is currently missing. This leads to the sector being under-recognised in policy, and the gap isn’t just in research – it’s in translation, training, and practical guidance.

At the very least, further research is needed for both advocacy and for rigorous exploring and testing of the link between singing and mental ill-health outcomes.