Spotify and UNICEF support mental health and well-being of young people through the power of audio
A partner since 2022
Spotify and UNICEF are partnering to support the mental health and well-being of young people and their caregivers. Through ‘Our Minds Matter’, a co-created youth mental health and well-being destination launched on Spotify, young people can access engaging content that responds to a wide range of mental health and well-being needs.
Mental health and well-being are fundamental components of a child’s healthy development and future. Today, one in seven adolescents globally experiences a mental health condition, with half of all mental disorders developing before the age of 14, and 75 per cent by the mid-20s.
Spotify and UNICEF know that music and audio can support mental health, and recognize the power of Spotify’s platform to bring resources to people directly where they are. Through a multi-year partnership, UNICEF and Spotify aim to help young people, including refugees, displaced people and migrants, access trusted and engaging mental health audio content. The partnership combines Spotify’s platform, user reach and content expertise with UNICEF’s mental health evidence-based expertise, programme reach and collaboration experience
“We’re proud of our continued partnership with UNICEF to support the mental health and wellbeing of young people everywhere, including those on the move or in crisis. Together, we will continue to focus on harnessing the power of music, audio and other innovative digital content to deliver trusted and engaging mental health content for young people, their caregivers, and communities," said Katarina Berg, Chief Human Resources Officer at Spotify.
Providing evidence-based resources for mental health and well-being.
The Spotify and UNICEF partnership has led to the creation of the Our Minds Matter youth mental health and well-being hub on Spotify. On the hub, listeners can access the UNICEF On My Mind podcast, which has been co-created with young people and informed by evidence on mental health needs. The hub also includes music playlists curated by Spotify for relaxation and focus moments.
The episodes developed for the On My Mind podcast aim to improve knowledge, attitudes, practices and behaviours among young people specifically related to their mental health.
From episodes on breaking down the stigma of talking about mental health and ways to manage anxiety, on nurturing healthy relationships, coping with stress, and connecting with family, and on self-care and handling grief and loss, the co-created podcast will support progress in improving access to mental health services and fostering a nurturing environment for young people.
The Our Minds Matter hub was first released in Ukrainian, and Polish, and English in June 2023, focusing on responding to the urgent mental health needs of young people who have been affected by the war in Ukraine.
In May 2024 a Spanish version of the Our Minds Matter hub was released in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Chile and Paraguay. This was followed by the release of a Portuguese version in Brazil in July 2024.
Capturing learnings and incorporating new services and content
Both Spotify and UNICEF acknowledge the importance of measuring the impact of the partnership to understand where the need is greatest and how to provide the most effective results. After implementation, the partners will work together to understand the impact of this new way of delivering mental health support, and explore how the partnership can support on-the-ground programming, including the use of music, sound, and other innovative mental health interventions.
Spotify has also joined the Global Coalition for Youth Mental Health, founded by UNICEF with the support of the Z Zurich Foundation. The coalition’s work aims to mobilize public and private sector investment and action to promote youth mental health.
About Spotify
Spotify’s platform revolutionized music listening forever when we launched in 2008. Our move into podcasting brought innovation and a new generation of listeners to the medium, and in 2022 we entered the next audio market primed for growth with the addition of audiobooks.
Today, more listeners than ever can discover, manage and enjoy over 100 million tracks, 6 million podcasts titles, and 350,000 audiobooks a la carte on Spotify. We are the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service with more than 615 million users, including 239 million subscribers in more than 180 markets.
References:
- Ref: Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation. Global Health Data Exchange (GHDx)
- Ref: Kessler RC, Berglund P, Demler O, Jin R, Merikangas KR, Walters EE. (2005). Lifetime Prevalence and Age-of-Onset Distributions of DSM-IV Disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62 (6) pp. 593-602. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.62.6.593.
Last updated on 31 May 2024
