We had the good fortune of connecting with Nadine Page, and we’ve shared our conversation below.  Firstly a let us introduce Nadine.

Nadine is the founder, owner and Clinical Director of The Creative Well. She is a highly skilled holistic health practitioner specialising in the music industry who splits her clinic time predominantly between the UK and the US.

Nadine is an experienced Registered Mental Health Nurse and Independent Nurse Prescriber in her specialist field of addictions. She studied at the renowned College of Naturopathic Medicine in London and graduated as both a certified Naturopath and Nutritional Therapist. Nadine is a well respected academic involved in teaching and clinical research. She is published in medical journals and clinical text books. Nadine is an Honorary Lecturer at both the University of Surrey and the University of Brighton in the UK, championing the integration of mental health learning. Her teaching expertise extends to facilitating classes in emotional wellbeing and self-care for students in higher education institutions around the world who are striving towards a career in the music industry. Because of Nadine’s growing reputation in music academia she was sought as a mentor by the Music Meléti team who provide an online global platform that brings all the possible channels of learning, studying and growing in the music field under one roof. She is proud to work alongside them and to support their music students and music teachers alike.

Nadine has been recognised by The International Society of Female Professionals as an honoured member who has demonstrated excellence, maintained perseverance, and ascended the summit of professional accomplishment.

Nadine was also considered to be one of the “10 Most Influential Women Leaders of 2021” by the editorial board of Industry Era Magazine. As already highlighted by others these honours beautifully illustrate Nadine’s exceptional vision to create a specialised health service for all music professionals and then to achieve that vision of excellence in the provision of care and support now available at The Creative Well for those who support and participate in bringing music to the world.

Hi Nadine, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
At The Creative Well we focus on raising mental health awareness amongst the music community as a whole, promoting healthy practices and helping to reframe unhealthy thoughts and behaviours, so that individuals feel empowered to lead healthy, successful and fulfilling lives.

Factors prevalent to the nature of working in a creative environment such as insecure income, difficulty achieving a work/life balance, pressure from fans and labels, poor diet, lack of sleep and access to alcohol and drugs seemingly all take their toll on wellbeing and mental health. When mental health is poor it can be difficult for people to relate to others, make decisions, study, work and handle stress. The interventions that we provide at The Creative Well are not only especially important to protect and restore mental health but also invaluable for supporting whole well-being to maintain longevity in an industry where mental health problems are particularly pervasive.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?

The Creative Well was born out of my love of music, live gigs, many conversations with music makers and the realisation that the music industry was experiencing a mental health crisis, in worse cases resulting in suicide, particularly among touring professionals.

Our client base currently includes touring professionals, such as artists, sessional musicians, band managers, sound and lighting engineers, road crew, festival vendors, caterers and security guards. We deal with different issues from physical illness to underlying emotional problems and one common theme that comes up a lot is helping those who tour to deal with difficult feelings surrounding life on the road and the changes/adjustments they face when they get home. We also work directly with record producers, labels, music educators and music students amongst others.

I personally chose and built our diverse team of exceptional practitioners at The Creative Well.  We are all experts in our fields of practice. Collectively we provide a safe space where full self-expression is encouraged and respected and together we share a vision to inspire creativity, joy and resilience.

Each of us go the extra mile to support the people we take care of because we appreciate how difficult it is for someone in the industry to maintain a healthy mind, body and spirit given the often unhealthy working environments and unconventional lifestyle.  A traditional 9-5 Monday to Friday service would not be able to accommodate the needs of this unique group of people.

We also fully understand the challenges of being creative, resilient and staying well in the industry because of our personal experiences as musicians and artist managers. We are conscious that it has become even more challenging since the outbreak in 2019 of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The pandemic resulted in the collapse of live music. Not only the artists but the thousands of people who worked alongside them lost their livelihoods overnight and the whole industry remains deeply affected in many ways. We have been and still are supporting our clients through the subsequent profound psychological and social effects of isolation, fear of contagion, uncertainty, chronic stress and economic difficulties all of which have further exacerbated anxiety, depression, substance use and other psychiatric disorders.

We are all committed to guiding our clients through a journey of self-discovery and supporting them to achieve optimum wellbeing through talking, nutritional and natural therapies. I personally use a multi-disciplinary and integrative approach to assess and personalise treatment plans for the clients I collaborate with. My holistic care recognises and treats each person individually, nurturing wholeness and healing, which in turn has helped many to restore the joy of making music and executing tours.

We all subscribe to life long learning in order to provide the best evidenced based treatment and care. I am currently training to be a Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) Therapist and will be offering this exciting therapy very soon. RTT is a distinctive therapeutic approach that combines the most beneficial principles of Hypnotherapy, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), Psychotherapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to effectively, swiftly and permanently create change. RTT enables access to the subconscious mind and thus the ability to uncover, reprogram and upgrade limiting beliefs and find the root cause of any mental or physical issue, pattern or behaviour providing complete freedom and healing.

Even though we will always have our roots firmly in music The Creative Well has evolved beyond solely the music industry by popular demand to include all of the performing arts.  Our services are no longer limited to the UK and US, with an online service available in all countries as well as the ongoing in-person sessions which people continue to value.  So no matter where you are in the world we can connect and we hold space for you!

 

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
When I’m in LA I love to walk along Venice Beach down to Santa Monica and eat fish tacos on the pier there. I love to visit Discovery Cove in Malibu with family and friends for dinner in the evening and watch the sunset. One of my other favourite places to watch sundown is on top of the Griffiths Observatory. I like a spot of shopping at The Grove and visiting MOCA, The Getty Museum and other art exhibitions.  When I’m feeling energetic there is nothing like a Hollywood Hills Hike at the break of dawn before it gets too hot.  One thing I never like to miss is David Gandleman’s meditation sessions at The Den on a Sunday morning.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?

Obviously I would like to thank everyone who I have encountered in my career to date including my tutors and mentors, colleagues and clients along the way, all of you have taught me so much.

I would like to also give a big shout out to my amazing and ever expanding team at The Creative Well. You are all incredible at what you do and I am so appreciative of you wholeheartedly sharing my vision.

However, there are four people integral to my success in establishing The Creative Well to whom I would like to dedicate my Shoutout and to give them the recognition they deserve, so here goes…

One night I was talking to my friend Eddie Lundon, one of the founding members of 80s English New Wave synth-pop band China Crisis and Song Writing Lecturer at Liverpool’s Institute For Performing Arts (LIPA). I told him if I had my time again I would love to work in the music industry. To cut a long conversation short he said to me why don’t you do what you do because you’re kind of doing that with all of us anyway. We laughed but in that moment a light went on in my head and I got very excited about possibly being able to do the work I love by giving back to the people who have given and continue to give me so much though their music. Eddie is celebrating 40 successful years in the business this year with China Crisis so when he said he felt there was a definite need for a specialist wellbeing service amongst his peers and students I naturally trusted both his insight and foresight. Eddie believed in me and that was good enough for me to believe that at 50 I could steer my career in the direction I could only have dreamt. The Creative Well was born.

My daughter Holly-Jade Landeros, CEO of HJPR then stepped in and set up a meeting between myself and LA based record producer Fernando Garibay. Fernando has produced and written with artists we all know and love including Lady Gaga, U2, Sig, Whitney Houston, Britney Spears, Shakira, Kylie Minogue, Enrique Iglesias, The Pussy Cat Dolls, Snoop Dogg, The Black Eyed Peas amongst many others. He has been nominated for numerous Grammy awards and has helped write and produce a number of international hit records, including five US number ones and several top 10 dance records on Billboard. I spent a delightful afternoon with him at his studio in Melrose sharing my thoughts and shaping my ideas that had stemmed from the many conversations withEddie and other music makers. The time Fernando gave me and the wisdom he shared about the business were invaluable in helping me to take my next steps. I left feeling I had another true champion who believed such a service was needed for his artists and even more motivated to set up a wellness service dedicated to supporting all people in music.

This is just one example of the wonderful opportunities Holly has engineered for me.  Fast forward 2 years and Holly is kindly always looking for ways to raise awareness of The Creative Well and the services we now provide.

Back in England I was grateful to Eddie and the other members of China Crisis (Gary Daly, Jack Hymers and Eric Animan) who did me the honour of becoming the first ambassadors of The Creative Well. Eddie remains my go-to and sounding board when I need some industry guidance. As with Holly, Eddie continues to open doors and connect me with key people, some inadvertently but nevertheless a direct result of an event to which he has invited me. Gaining entry and admittance to the performing arts industry as a whole has meant in a very short space of time we have evolved beyond solely music which in turn has benefitted the wider music community who typically experience a considerably higher prevalence of mental health problems than the general population.

Last but not least my husband Darren Page deserves so much credit. For one suggesting the name ‘The Creative Well’ but also for my overall success in my career to date. He has been my biggest cheerleader for 37 years and supported me in all ways. I know I would not be where I am today without him and his love and care. The fact that Darren is an Architect and Managing Director of asuccessful company, Lytle Associates Architects, he understands the stressors of being creative and running a business and as such is another fantastic mentor, guide and network provider when it comes to managing my business affairs.

I have no words to thank the four of you for believing in me, for challenging me and ultimately for giving me the confidence to bring my dream to fruition. I honestly have the deepest gratitude and appreciation for your unconditional support. THANK YOU!!!!

Website: https://www.the-creative-well.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_creative_well/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/74791329/admin/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheCreativeWel1

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoundofMinds/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrHK_3Fh5NojgzsFdNP2WsA

Image Credits
Darren Page

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