Tag: Heart & Soul

Announcing the Recipients of the Spotify x JED Impact Award for Positive Mental Health Storytelling

October 9, 2025

When we introduced the inaugural Spotify x JED Impact Award earlier this year, our goal was simple: Celebrate unpublished fiction that inspires a more inclusive and compassionate dialogue around mental health. Now, on World Mental Health Day, we’re excited to announce the five recipients whose work exemplifies positive mental health storytelling.

This initiative is a partnership between Spotify; The Black List, a platform where writers can  showcase work to industry professionals; and The Jed Foundation (JED), a leading nonprofit that protects emotional health and prevents suicide among teens and young adults nationwide.

Designed to create opportunities for emerging writers, the Spotify x JED Impact Award aims to normalize mental health experiences and highlight the importance of seeking and offering support.

Each recipient will receive a $10,000 grant to support their work, along with opportunities to consult with mental health experts through JED. All writers will retain the rights to their manuscripts.

Recipients were chosen from a large pool of manuscripts over several rounds of judging. The final decision was made by a distinguished panel: bestselling author Jason Reynolds; Michael La Ronn, author of more than 100 novels and self-help books for writers; and Julia Phillips, author of the bestseller Bear: A Novel and Disappearing Earth, a National Book Award finalist.

“Each of the recipients wrote manuscripts with compelling characters and explorations of mental health issues that both educated and inspired me,” said Michael. “I’m so proud of the recipients and hope these manuscripts are just the beginning.”

The Impact Award is part of Spotify’s Heart & Soul, Mental Health for Creators initiative, which supports the well-being of artists, songwriters, and authors worldwide. Through our ongoing partnership with JED, we’ll continue to provide resources that nurture both creative and personal wellness. Self-care and mental health storytelling resources for writers were also created in collaboration with JED.

Meet the Spotify x JED Impact Award recipients

“The recipients of the inaugural Spotify x JED Impact Award bring to life vivid and moving depictions of mental health,” said Spotify Social Impact Lead Casey Acierno. “We’re proud to celebrate these impactful narratives and support their writers.”

    • Distortion by Daniel Patinkin 
    • In-Between Worlds by Solomon Tesfaye  
    • Infinite Delores by Bree Barton  
    • More Than Quiet by Terah Tsuyako Summers 
    • The Invisible Runner by Dennis Haseley 

Learn more about the recipients and their projects here. 

The power of storytelling

For our partners, this year’s submissions are a reminder of how fiction can spark connection, understanding, and hope.

“Reading the award submissions underscored the powerful role fiction plays in shaping our mental health and inner storytelling—how we see the world, our place in it, and the pathways for healing and growth,” said Courtney Knowles, Senior Media Advisor for JED. “We look forward to learning from these talented recipients and expanding our work with Spotify to support creators in their mental health and impact journeys.”

This collaboration also highlighted the importance of challenging stereotypes and encouraging responsible storytelling.

“Help-seeking and help-giving narratives—stories that challenge mental health stereotypes— make for better, more responsible writing,” added Randy Winston, Creative Director of Fiction at The Black List. “Congratulations to our grant recipients for their work, and a heartfelt thank you to our judges Jason, Julia, and Michael and our readers for their time and efforts.” 

Stay tuned to see how else Spotify’s Heart & Soul, Mental Health for Creators initiative is supporting artists, authors, and their teams around the globe.

Spotify’s World Mental Health Day Campaign Amplifies Connection and Youth Voices with UNICEF

October 9, 2025

This World Mental Health Day, Spotify is helping listeners slow down, reconnect, and find belonging through the power of audio. With our campaign “Take a Beat. Tune Into Connection,” we’re shining a light on the global loneliness crisis and encouraging people everywhere to pause and reconnect. While audio alone can’t solve loneliness, it can be a powerful companion in bridging emotional and cultural divides.

At the heart of this campaign is the Take a Beat hub—a space filled with curated playlists, podcasts, audiobooks (where available), and features like Blend. Whether it’s ambient sounds, conversations about belonging, or stories that bring people closer, the hub helps listeners find moments of calm, connection, and well-being. Joining the conversation are creators from around the world, including the hosts of GrownKid; Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, Ira Khan, Nikhil Taneja, and Ryan Lu; author Yung Pueblo; and artists Felix Jaehn, Mickey Guyton, and Raghav Sachar—who share how they “take a beat” and “tune into connection” through their own journeys on socials or on-platform.

Through activations across the platform and with our bandmates, Spotify is creating moments that inspire reflection and reconnection for artists, podcasters, authors, employees, and fans alike. The campaign builds on Heart & Soul, Mental Health for Creators. In partnership with leading nonprofits, this global effort aims to provide meaningful support, challenge cultural norms, and ensure that artists, songwriters, and their teams can access the help they need—when they need it.

The unifying power of audio

While Spotify connects millions of people through sound, we know not everyone has access to our platform. As part of our social impact work, Spotify is launching a micro-grant initiative to support nonprofits and community groups working to combat loneliness and strengthen social connection, especially for vulnerable populations.

In the US, the grant will support the Foundation for Social Connection, whose mission is to advance social connection nationwide, rooted in evidence for our collective well-being. Spotify is also partnering with Book It Around™, an audiobook walking club founded by Kit Ballenger and Morgan Menzies that brings readers together through shared stories. To get ready, Book It Around™ curated a playlist of their favorite audiobooks on connection and well-being.

Amplifying youth voices with UNICEF

Building on this global call to connection, Spotify and UNICEF are expanding our award-winning partnership with the Youth Mental Health Audio Innovation Challenge across five countries: Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, São Tomé and Príncipe, Timor-Leste, and Zimbabwe.

This new initiative empowers young people to co-create localized mental health audio content using audio as a bridge for connection and belonging—from podcasts and poetry to music and spoken word—rooted in their own languages and cultures. By transforming listening into creation, they are turning local stories based on their own experiences into tools for understanding and community, creating pieces that other young people can relate to.

Since 2022, the partnership has delivered trusted digital mental health content through the Our Minds Matter hub and the On My Mind podcast, co-created with young people and based on UNICEF-led research. By amplifying authentic youth voices, this next chapter sparks meaningful conversations, encourages self-reflection, reduces stigma, and brings mental health support closer to the young people who need it most.

Take a beat, together

However you listen, audio has the power to help us feel seen, heard, and less alone. This World Mental Health Day, we invite you to take a moment—pause, tune into connection, and remember that we’re never really alone.

Ready to explore audio that connects and supports? Check out the Take a Beat hub on Spotify.

Take a Beat and Tune In to Nature for World Mental Health Day

October 9, 2024

Research shows that nature sounds can have a positive impact on your mental health. So, this World Mental Health Day, we’re inviting you to take a beat and tune in to nature. 

We’re reintroducing our “Take a Beat” campaign, which aims to help nature sounds become part of people’s everyday lives by highlighting the positive impact they can have on your mental health and well-being. Turning to nature provides listeners an opportunity to do something intentional for themselves by tuning out the background noise and tuning in to their own needs. We’re encouraging listeners to pause, reflect, and immerse themselves in the soothing sounds of nature. 

For Spotify, positive mental health is a state of well-being that allows people to better cope with the daily stresses of life, function productively, and make meaningful contributions. With this in mind, through Heart & Soul, our global mental health initiative for all Spotify employees, we are also encouraging employees to tap into Take a Beat and connect with nature through internal programming that helps educate, inspire, and normalize the idea of taking time away from their desks and spending time in nature.

Nature, mental health, and well-being are inextricably linked. A study of ~20,000 people found that those who spend at least two hours in nature throughout the week report consistently higher levels of mental health and well-being compared to those who don’t. Whether it’s the sound of ocean waves, a birdsong at dawn, or the rustle of wind through trees, the natural world offers a sense of calm and grounding that’s hard to find elsewhere. In today’s fast-paced world, these moments of stillness can feel distant or inaccessible. That’s why Spotify is proud to use its platform to bring these soothing sounds directly to people, wherever they are.

The Take a Beat hub 

The Take a Beat hub is filled with the best nature sounds available on Spotify—from field recordings to nature-themed albums, guided meditations to inspiring podcasts. The highlights in the hub are all backed by science, and the destination also features content from our partners, Sounds Right and Calm. 

Sounds Right, which launched earlier this year, is about recognizing Nature as an artist. By listening to NATURE’s tracks, fans are directly protecting the environment—a portion of royalties are disbursed to high-impact conservation initiatives. The Take a Beat hub includes tracks like Louis VI and NATURE‘s “Orange Skies” (featuring Mick Jenkins and Jelani Blackman); UMI, NATURE, and V’s (of BTS) “wherever u r”; and Cosmo Sheldrake and NATURE’s “Soil.” Our friends at Calm have curated an exclusive selection of nature-themed meditations that can be found in the hub. Listeners can find suggestions like We Are Nature, Nature Walk, Grounded Like a Mountain, Mindful Walking Meditation, and Nature All Around (the last of which is narrated by Jay Shetty). 

Collabs with Louis VI and other artists and influencers

With this year’s initiative, Spotify has teamed up with zoologist, BBC Creator in Residence, and rapper Louis VI, whose main purpose is to use sound to strengthen our connection to the natural world.

His collaboration with the campaign will help showcase how deeply nature and music are intertwined. “Having a strong relationship with nature is so important for both our mental health and creativity,” said Louis VI. “I draw inspiration from the natural world. Its rhythms, sounds, and energy are often a source of healing and creativity when making music.”

The Take a Beat campaign offers an open invitation to everyone, encouraging a deeper connection with the world around us through sound—whether it’s on World Mental Health Day or any other day.

Artists Maejor, N3WYRKLA, and Ralph Castelli are also joining us to share how they take a beat and tune in to nature, along with U.K.-based creators Char Bailey, Nadeem Perera, and Tash LC.

Community impact 

As a part of the campaign, we’re also making donations to organizations that are doing inspiring work to support people to connect with nature for their mental health and well-being. Three of these groups include Dose of Nature in the U.K., Climate Mental Health Network in the U.S., and The Global Fund for Mental Health. 

We also worked with our partners Good Energy to create a resource page where people can learn more about the intersection of mental health and climate change, discover simple ways to look after your mental health through nature, and learn more about partners working in this space. 

Explore the healing sounds of nature in our Take a Beat hub here.

4 Years of Heart & Soul: Mental Health Support at Spotify

December 20, 2022

heart and soul lockup on purple, pink, green background

At Spotify, we’ve long understood that in order to do your best work, you need to feel your best. But since not every day can be top-notch, it’s important that our employees know that we’ve got their back throughout it all.

Four years ago, we created Heart & Soul, a global mental health initiative for all Spotify employees. We believe that everyone’s experience of mental health, from illness to well-being, should be welcomed, respected, and championed—and that all our employees should be able to access the support and care they need, when they need it. 

In celebration of this anniversary, we’ve released a report on our Heart & Soul accomplishments and learnings to date. The report includes a timeline of the initiative, first-person perspectives from our Ambassadors, recommendations for other companies looking to create similar programs, and more. 

And our work is based on three pillars: raising awareness and building knowledge, enabling self-care and professional support, and normalizing the conversation. Take a look at a sampling of our work: 

Heart and Soul pillars

To read the full report, head to Life at Spotify.

Spotify Recognizes Workplace Well-Being on World Mental Health Day

October 10, 2019

More and more, people are speaking out about mental health—reminding each other that “it’s okay not to be okay.” At Spotify, we know it’s time to move past words and take action. That’s why this World Mental Health Day, we’re inviting our entire organization to stop, take a breather, and learn more about mental health.

“Mental health issues like depression and anxiety are increasing in society,” explains Katarina Berg, Chief Human Resources Officer at Spotify. “They have been for years now, and there is nothing to indicate that this increase will stop. It affects how we can grow as humans and perform at work. So we want to do whatever we can to support and boost mental health among our employees and in society.”

The Day is in keeping with Heart & Soul, our strategy and plan for mental health and emotional wellbeing. It’s aimed at raising awareness, building knowledge, and removing the stigma around mental health. We provide proactive self-care and professional treatment for all employees, and have a community of autonomous Heart & Soul ambassadors who drive local initiatives. This October 10, on World Mental Health Day, employees will learn about and discuss emotional well-being and mental health in local events at our offices all over the world.

It’s important to address these issues head-on in the workplace, since most people spend 35% of their waking time at work. Our environment therefore plays a huge role in our psychological health—if we’re not okay in life, we’re likely not to be okay at work.

“We don’t want our employees to hide behind a happy face at work—we want them to show up at work feeling that they can tell their manager and colleagues that they are not well, and get the support they need,” says Katarina. “Many suffer in silence and we don’t want that for the Spotify team, or anyone else.”

Read more about Heart & Soul, and about how we work to create a climate where it is safe to raise questions about mental health on the Spotify HR Blog.

Supporting the ‘Heart & Soul’ of Spotify

October 15, 2018

October marks Mental Health Awareness Month. At Spotify, we know it’s important not only to recognize this day, but to commit to the emotional health of our employees throughout the year. Mental health issues or addiction affect most of us at some point in life, either directly or through someone we love—sometimes even through the music and personal stories of our favorite artists.

Our goal at Spotify is to foster a culture of awareness, acceptance, sensitivity, and support around issues such as depression, anxiety, and addiction—a culture where we can all embrace our identities, look after ourselves and each other, thrive, and be our best.

Earlier this year, we launched Heart & Soul, a mental health initiative, to provide the best possible support for our employees and to promote deep knowledge about emotional well-being among all at Spotify.

It’s important to focus on mental health in all aspects of our lives—and even more so in the workplace. We spend 35 percent of our waking hours at work. That means the environment we work in matters to our emotional well-being. And if we’re dealing with mental health issues in our everyday lives, they follow us to the office.

While we can’t diagnose mental illness or recommend specific treatment options, a company like ours can take the initiative in building knowledge and reducing stigmas, creating a culture of acceptance, and encouraging better understanding of conditions, symptoms, and warning signs. We can also make sure our employees are trained in tools that support self-care.

Our Heart & Soul support network starts with our employees. We provide a wide range of training on subjects like inclusion, unconscious bias, and warning signs for substance abuse and how to support someone who suffers from it. We not only want to erase the stigma surrounding mental health, but wish to enable people to recognize when someone is in need and how to offer tools and treatment—whether that’s through the self-care activities that we offer or by seeking professional help.

Leading the way are our Heart & Soul ambassadors, employees from all over the organization who work to engage others and help all employees feel included in our wellness vision. Ambassadors promote emotional fitness, drive awareness, and build community while providing us with a ground-level perspective that will help our initiative grow and improve. They also lead the way in assembling our self-care database, a resource our employees can access whenever they need it.

Every day we pave our way in music, culture, and technology—and we want to do the same for the health of our employees. That means fostering a holistic environment that erases stigma and promotes understanding so we can each bring our whole selves to work. Wellness is key for all of us to thrive in the long term, and it is our duty to help everyone feel supported.