Toni Coe-Brooker, venue manager

Toni is programming and production manager for The Green Door Store, an iconic indie music venue in Brighton. We caught up with Toni after she completed our Two Day Adult Mental Health First Aid Course.

What made you want to become a Mental Health First Aider?

I’ve always been interested in mental health, and obviously working with musicians and creative people in general we do tend to have mental health issues and are often facing those.

What did you learn from the course?

I learned so much. Honestly, the whole thing was so invaluable. I learned so much about anxiety disorders, about psychosis, personality disorders, eating disorders, and how best I can support the people that I work with. There are a lot of people on the same level, and then there’s me, and then owners of the venue. I feel a lot of pressure is put on me to support people that I’m in the venue with everyday and I feel like this course has given me the tools to do that.    

What sort of mental health issues do you encounter in your role?

Anxiety. I mean, if you don’t have anxiety then you’re not working in the music industry! With people that are running venues, I think it’s a common theme that we’re all suffering from anxiety and there’s also, almost like a badge of honour if you’re not suffering from it.

In terms of musicians that I work with, there are a number of disorders of which now I know a lot more about. I feel like I’ve had such limited knowledge before.

Would you recommend the course? If so, who would it be for?

One hundred percent. I feel like it’s essential – if I could have put my whole venue through it, I would have done. But also I would be really interested to do another course that was very much focused on music industry. This is perfect for people from all industries but I feel like we’re in industry which really, really struggles with mental health issues so I feel like if there was one that was specifically for music industry as well that would be a great add on.