This summer, Live Music Now brought together local authorities in Wales, parents with lived experience of perinatal mental health challenges, international musical health partners, evaluators from Australia and the U.S., health and social care workers, policy influencers, NHS changemakers, and Live Music Now project teams for an open, free-to-access symposium in Cardiff.
The call to action was clear: increase the use of Lullaby and musical health programmes for families in the early years of a child’s life to unlock futures, break cycles of inequality and improve resilience among health and social care workers.
Missed the symposium? No problem – click play to listen to the speakers, learn about the Lullaby intervention and see how cross sector collaboration helps new parents transition to their caregiving role.
Here at Live Music Now, we’re delivering our 30th Lullaby programme in Cymru, 17th in England and will launch our first Lullaby intervention in Northern Ireland in 2026. Read more about the Live Music Now Lullaby programme here.
External and Live Music Now evaluation of three years delivering this collaborative songwriting programme shows it addresses a root cause of a public health emergency: the increasing toll of perinatal mental health issues. One in five mothers in the UK experience perinatal mental health challenges, and suicide is a leading cause of death during and after pregnancy. Poor maternal mental health contributes to £8.1 billion in long-term societal costs for each annual birth cohort, with 72% of this related to adverse outcomes for the child.
This cycle of inequality—where mental ill-health in one generation increases vulnerability in the next, in turn increasing pressures on already overwhelmed public health systems—is one the Lullaby Intervention seeks to interrupt.
‘I experienced PTSD and depression. I was on brink of despair… I was offered a place on the Lullaby programme through the Flying Start team. It got me thinking about options, possibilities. I don’t think I’d be here to tell you this if I hadn’t had engaged in the Lullaby programme.” Lullaby Participant, Briton Ferry
Symposium Presenter Spotlight
Lisa Clement-Jones Early Years and Flying Start Manager Neath Port Talbot Council
Lisa has been an early adopter of Lullaby and Neath Port Talbot council are progressive in their use of musical care in support of the early years of family life. Lisa’s presentation focus was evidence; sharing improvements in resilience and confidence for new parents in Neath and Port Talbot and why they are repeat investing in Lullaby as a Local Authority. In addition to Lullaby provision, they are expanding the deployment of Live Music Now interventions to include Badge of Excellence staff training for four Early Years Music Leaders and through the Cynefin early years music project for nursery staff. This investment is part of an evidence and experience led early years approach systemically, meeting the Flying Start corporate objective “all children get the best start in life.”
Here are Lisa’s compelling results from delivery of the Lullaby programme;
- 88% of mothers said the project improved their mental health
- 71% reported greater life direction
- 71% increased their sense of meeting parenting expectations
For families in Neath and Port Talbot Local Authority, the Lullaby intervention is improving mental health and infant/parent bonding, providing health and social care support in an informal setting, creating community networks and unlocking a musical practice to create a unique lullaby; often sung for years after the final session.
We want more families in the UK to access this proven musical health care intervention and welcome contact from funders, local authorities, politicians and cross sector collaborators. As Sharon Fernandez, National Clinical Lead for Perinatal Mental Health in Wales said during this Summer’s symposium panel “wouldn’t it be fantastic if every new parent in Wales had a place on a lullaby programme?”.
Keep an eye on our news tab for more speaker spotlights and symposium news.
With thanks to Carnegie Hall, originators of Lullaby.
