Spotlight On Our Facility Audiences: Zuckerberg SF General Hospital (ZSFG) Department of Psychiatry

“We are grateful to Bread & Roses Presents for their ongoing dedication and commitment to sharing the invaluable gift of music with our patients. It is wonderful to see patients who live with significant mental health and substance abuse struggles come out into the dayroom area to listen with their peers, sing along, smile and sometimes get up to dance. The performances provide them with an opportunity to forget about their difficulties and enjoy the present moment.” – Annette Pinto, Director of Psychiatric Occupational Therapy Department

In honor of our 50th Anniversary, our spotlight on The Department of Psychiatry at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFG) is the fifth in a monthly series highlighting our wide range of facility partners. Bread & Roses Presents has provided live music to patients that are hospitalized at ZSFG on the locked Inpatient Psychiatric Units for over 30 years. People are hospitalized when they are having mental health challenges and are having difficulty managing the tasks of everyday life. When they improve and are more stable, they are discharged home or to a program, shelter or longer-term psychiatric setting.

Bread & Roses musicians perform bi-monthly for audience members in the Acute Inpatient Units through the facilitation of Annette Pinto, Director of the Psychiatric Occupational Therapy (OT) Department at ZSFG. The role of the Psychiatric OT staff is to help patients improve and develop skills in daily living, coping, emotional regulation, socialization and leisure. The program offers a variety of recovery groups and individual sessions, including partnerships with valuable organizations like Bread & Roses. They believe people can thrive while living with mental illness by setting meaningful life goals, participating in enjoyable activities, and having multiple support systems.

Listening to music is an uplifting experience that can be profoundly meaningful and provide people with valuable coping skills to help regulate difficult emotions. After a recent Bread & Roses performance, a patient shared, “That was really beautiful! Listening to live music helped me feel much better.” Another appreciative patient said he could not recall the last time he went to see a concert and that after his discharge, he was inspired to seek out more live music events to use as a coping skill to manage his stress.

Many people in the U.S. are living with mental and emotional distress. Over one in five adults live with a mental illness. Over one in five youth (ages 13-18) either currently or at some point in their lives, have had a seriously debilitating mental illness. About one in 25 adults lives with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or major depression. Medical research has shown the benefits of music therapy for a variety of mental health conditions. Listening to live music can be a way to process emotions, trauma and grief as well as calm anxiety. Bread & Roses deeply values our partnership with Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. We look forward to continuing our work together to support those suffering from mental illness.  For more info, visit www.zuckerbergsanfranciscogeneral.org and www.breadandroses.org