Unplug: Changing lives through music

Dal students play music with - not for - people with mental illness

Daniel Gillis, left, and Tim Disher started Unplug out of motivation to help the homeless and others express themselves musically in a therapeutic way. Photo: Katherine Wooler

Being a homeless person or as someone living with mental illness is hard and sometimes, it's painful. Dalhousie University students Daniel Gillis and Timothy Disher are trying to change that, through music.

Gillis and Disher founded Unplug last spring, a music program that gives Halifax's at risk adults a chance to explore and express themselves through music. Unplug wants its participants - stroke patients, amputees, traumatic brain injury survivors, rehab patients, those living with mental illness and the homeless - to feel like they're a part of a community.

Unplug's motivation is simple. "We both feel very strongly that the stigma surrounding homelessness and particularly mental health is one that needs to be broken down," Gillis says. "Our approach is not to teach, or play music for people, but with them. We just play, listen and talk about music together... it's that simple."
Disher came up with the idea for Unplug after attending Dalhousie University's leadership conference Brains for Change last year. Disher noticed people were talking about music, mental health and homelessness. He wanted to do something to address all three topics.
Disher already has a psychology degree under his belt and is now a first-year nursing student at Dal. He met Gillis, a Dal classics and religious studies student (and ex-music major) at the conference. Disher pitched the idea to Gillis and Unplug was born. 

Neither of them had done anything like this before. But they were determined to make a difference. "Music is such an easy and universal thing," Gillis says. "It can be the source of so much joy and can be very therapeutic - like a refuge. So we thought we could share that and show that to people who don't otherwise have the opportunity."

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Daniel Gillis plays music with Unplug participants. Photo: Daniel Gillis and Tim Disher

Unplug's pilot program was held at Connections Clubhouse, a community health organization for people living with mental illness, on April 21, 2011. For two hours, Unplug jammed with participants and brought along 20 student volunteers to help out. Gillis and Disher call the pilot a "resounding success" and a "magical" two hours.

Barbara Mclean runs The Spot youth and music program and works at Connections Clubhouse. She thinks Unplug is a great idea. "A lot of people we work with are living with mental illness. It's a really positive activity for them to do together as a group," she says.

Mclean says participants have been asking about Unplug all summer, eager to know when the program will start up again.

Thankfully, folks at Connections Clubhouse won't have to wait much longer.

Unplug's first four-week programs at the Barry House women's shelter and Metro Turning Point men's shelter begin the week of Oct. 24. The next week, Unplug will be starting regular programs with Connections Clubhouse and the Nova Scotia Rehab Center. Disher is hopeful about running programs at the Salvation Army's assisted living complexes beginning this fall as well.

Unplug's participants weren't the only ones feeling the positive musical vibrations at the pilot. Unplug makes its student volunteers feel good, too.

The volunteers come from all educational backgrounds and many play instruments themselves. Student volunteer Shelley MacDonald plays the ukulele for fun. She says, "I kept grinning while we were there because the atmosphere with everyone singing together and trying out instruments was so uplifting." She says one of the best parts about working with Unplug is "the feeling that you get when people tell you 'thank you' and you know they really meant it."

Unplug's next step is to secure grant funding from the Nova Scotia government and to become ratified as a Dalhousie society. Unplug is also looking for musical instrument donations as well as additional staff support. If you would like to get involved, visit Unplug's website.

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