Live music will sound at Connecticut Mental Health Center on December 5 as The Home Tour, a nationally acclaimed musical celebration, takes the stage.
The Home Tour, the creation of singer/songwriter Mary McBride, brings concerts to people with limited access or resources to hear live music. The Home Tour has partnered with Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy and several State agencies to launch the tour in seven cities across Connecticut.
At CMHC for the Tour's kick-off, McBride and her band will perform a winning combination of old favorites, original pieces, and holiday songs. They will also share the stage with musicians from the CMHC community, including staff and clients.
Connecticut Mental Health Center (CMHC) is an enduring partnership between the State of Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) and Yale University School of Medicine that provides mental health and substance abuse treatment for 5,000 people annually in the Greater New Haven area. CMHC is one of four DMHAS clinical sites across the State that will host the Home Tour. Additional Home Tour locations include many partners in the human services sector—in the New Haven area: Fellowship Place; New Haven Housing Authority/Quinnipiac Terrace; the West Haven VA; and Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital.
Of the Home Tour, DMHAS Commissioner Patricia Rehmer said, "We are entering the holiday season and we are fortunate to be able to provide access to the arts for our citizens who may not be able to experience the healing power of live music."
"The Home Tour embodies much of what CMHC stands for," said Michael J. Sernyak, MD, CEO of CMHC. "Celebration, hope, and recovery—the idea that people with serious mental illness can 'sing their own song' by building lives of their own choosing in the community. We're honored to host the Home Tour and look forward to a great event."
Good Music + Good Food = Good Health
Home Tour Connecticut is also partnering with Fresh Advantage to highlight the connection between the nourishing aspects of healthy food and live music.
In New Haven, the Home Tour's generous food partners include Miya's Sushi, Claire's Corner Copia, CitySeed, Chabaso Bakery, Elm City Market, and Farmer's Cow. CitySeed has committed to continuing to work with agencies to help improve food access and combat food insecurity for their clients. CMHC, which hosts a CitySeed Farmers' Market every summer and fall in its parking lot, embraces the belief that fresh, locally and sustainably grown food is a cornerstone of physical and mental health for all people.
About the Home Tour
Since its inception, the Home Tour has performed live shows for seniors in Washington, DC; Navajo families living in supported housing in New Mexico; children in the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans; farm workers in rural Washington State; cancer patients in Los Angeles, CA; and veterans recovering from injuries and living indefinitely at a VA hospital in Long Beach, CA. The tour has since expanded internationally and founder Mary McBride, through her role as a Cultural Ambassador for the U.S. State Department and as a Spokesperson for the Humpty Dumpty Institute (thehdi.org), has performed with her five-piece band for young people recovering from spinal cord injuries in Moscow; for families that have had to relocate from Peshawar to Karachi in Pakistan; for orphans in central Baghdad and northern Taiwan; for all-women audiences in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia; for displaced families from Mosul who are living in camps in Kurdistan; and for victims of landmines in Quang Tri Province in Vietnam.
About CMHC
As the lead agency in the Greater New Haven region for public mental health services, CMHC reaches deep into the local community, providing world-class care for many of its most vulnerable and marginalized citizens. Home to several Yale University neuroscientists and other researchers, it is also a center for scientific advancement in the understanding and treatment of mental health and substance abuse disorders. Since its founding in 1966, CMHC has offered training and education for hundreds of people including Yale University medical residents and psychology fellows; young neuroscientists and forensic psychiatrists; interns in social work, nursing, chaplaincy; and more. CMHC embraces the highest values of citizenship, partnership, excellence, and an abiding commitment to the people it serves.
Home Tour Sponsors
The Home Tour is supported by the Connecticut Mental Health Center Foundation, the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, the Fischl Gornik Foundation, Pfizer, Starwood Hotels, Yale University, and individual contributors.
Praise for the Home Tour
"Extraordinary… one of the most unconventional tours in recent popular music history." - The Washington Post
"The Home Tour is a way of highlighting how communities can be nurtured, whether by sharing shelter, stories or - for an hour or two - some live music." – The Wall Street Journal