Solving Open Ended Problems

Today I wanted to share a central idea that is at the core of Musician’s Handbook.
Solving large problems, with multiple solutions

Before talking about some conceptual questions such as why and how this is important, let us take a look at what this idea looks like at a practical level.

There are currently 7.8 billion human beings on planet earth. This leads to lots of ideas, experiences, and views from every single one of these people. With there being that many people, there are bound to be some crossovers of these ideas, and even of human experiences. One modern-day example of this would be the Covid-19 pandemic. This current event has affected all worldwide but has affected careers, families, living situations, mental health, and physical health differently for each individual. 

Within the field of mental health, and mental health advocacy, there is this same paradigm of overarching ideas/concepts that bind us together, with subcategories of lived experience that add more detail and opportunities to connect to those experiences. 

To bring some practical real-world examples of this within mental health advocacy, here are just a few examples of mental health platforms that provide resources and support to individuals within a specific field of study -  
Mental health platforms 

Cobalt 

• New Mental Health Platform Provides Support for Healthcare Workers
• Penn Cobalt

Athletes for Hope

• Mental Health and Athletes

 HealthyGamerGG

• Healthy Gamer: Mental Health for the Internet
• HealthyGamerGG YouTube Channel​

Healthcare workers, Athletes, and Gamers are all very separate communities with their own identities, problems, and solutions. With just the concept of burnout, here are some examples that individuals from these fields may face​

Cobalt
What does it feel like to study for the USMLE? To desperately binge memorize only to purge the information later on.
Or be on call for 24 hours during your residency?

Athletes for Hope
What does it feel like practice throwing threes for a week, but still miss the shot and let down the team?

HealthyGamerGG
What does it feel like to “Run it down mid” and give up three kills in a row in League of Legends or Dota or Smite?
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Musician’s Handbook
And as a Musician. What does it feel like to practice a lick for hours, while it becomes more difficult to perform, with it becoming more and more frustrating to play?

Within our first two blog posts, we have discussed what mental health problems this generation is facing, and why there has been an exponential growth of these problems over the last decade. 
With this post, I want to start conversations on how we might begin to solve these problems, and a start is to follow the example of these many organizations, and meeting people where they are and - 
Solving large problems, with multiple solutions

HealthyGamerGG, Cobalt, and Athletes for Hope have had immense success in reaching the demographics and people within their fields of gamers, health care workers, and athletes. It’s time for us to do the same as musicians. 

The temptation is high to view this massive influx of mental health as a singular problem, needing a singular solution.
This is not the case.
​
Moving forward, within our lives, it's incredibly important for us to view and acknowledge these subcategories of people, and evaluate how to approach them with their problems. No one is going to connect conceptualization “Burnout”, without the context of what it looks and feels like within their walk of life. 

Moving forward let us take this concept to better connect with those around us, both within and outside of our circles. 

Peace and Joy,

Musician's Handbook
Emmet Harris