#785 LIVE Women Who Rock
Lexi Rodriquez
HOPE THROUGH HEADPHONES STRENGTHEN CONVERSATIONS ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH, THROUGH MUSIC Spreading the music and message beyond campus, the Hope Through Headphones team host the Mental Music Scene, an annual benefit concert. [April 6 at The Landing Grill + Bar.] Beyond a concert, Lexi ensures there are educational aspects behind everything they do. "We have different speakers while we are set-changing. A speaker will go up on stage and we will change it around them," said Lexi. 2019 speakers include Hope For The Day who will speak on suicide prevention; Valeo who presents the importance and power of music therapy and Washburn Counseling who will cover topics of substance abuse and addiction as well as sexual and domestic violence. "There's a back-room, off to the side of the concert, kinda separate, and last year it was filled wall-to-wall with local resources. So if anything you heard from a speaker or musician really affected you and you wanted to learn more, you could go back into that room and find more resources. Take more away from the event, actual physical paperwork, pictures and flyers; to take home.”
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by Huascar Medina | photo by EJ Drake
aising awareness of mental illnesses, promoting mental health and using music as a catalyst for opening discussions of personal struggles with mental illness amongst collegeaged students is the beat of Hope Through Headphones, a nonprofit created by Washburn University student Lexi Rodriguez.
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The nonprofit hosts varied mental health related events on campus [Washburn University] including educational speakers, music therapists and supporting Washburn Counseling open houses and events. But their unique sound is what makes them worth turning up. "We have our Spotify playlist. Different students can suggest or send in different songs to put on those," explained Lexi. "So some songs make you feel better about yourself. Some are like 'we feel we understand you, we relate;' this is a song that can help you express yourself. It says words that you can’t say."
The idea for a mental health benefit concert was inspired while attending Warped Tour. “We realized there were so many nonprofits around Warped Tour and my friend and I just wanted a break from the music and the crowd. So we went walking around and ran into Hope For The Day and Can You Hear Me and all these other nonprofits [dealing with mental health]. . I ended up in the Can You Hear Me bus just sitting and talking with their founder for half an hour on starting nonprofits. From there, I had another friend at Warped Tour and she was talking about all these musicians that are very forward about what they are thinking and how they are feeling. She was like, ‘It would be cool if we could get these musicians involved.’ And so, I thought of having a concert, but also making sure it was educational and supportive. If we got these musicians in an environment that they could openly talk about it, and even encourage them to do it, just imagine how much more the people would relate to their music than they already do.”
