April 24, 2023, Ottawa – Birdsong New Music Foundation announces the beginning of a new initiative to create a pilot music program inside The Royal Ottawa Mental health centre also known as “The Royal” (ROMHC); one of Canada’s foremost mental…

I am writing this blog on the second anniversary — September 24, 2019 — of my son’s death. As a form of personal therapy, my hope for posting it is to escape my own feelings of incalculable loss. But just…

Journalist Johann Hari talks about his research on the war on drugs and how present-day approaches don't always work. We at Birdsong feel this is important, as not all solutions are the same for everybody. This talk presents an interesting…

Today is the three-year marker of my life without my son David – my angel and my teacher. I feel like I’ve been living in a war-zone of debilitating sadness that overtook me when he died. But somehow, with the…

As summer wraps up here in the great white north, I can feel the approaching winter and my own mood changes as I watch the V formation of Canada geese flying over the beautiful tree where my son’s ashes are…

BIRDSONG FOUNDATION is happy to present a study written by four fourth-year nursing students from Ottawa University, in conjunction with Sandy Hill Community Health Centre in Ottawa, Canada.  

The team spent three months identifying appropriate free mental health apps for…

"We'll go to the doctor when we feel flu-ish or a nagging pain. So why don't we see a health professional when we feel emotional pain: guilt, loss, loneliness? Too many of us deal with common psychological-health issues on our…

OTTAWA CITIZEN: Three Ottawa-area musicians are among the first to receive a career boost from Birdsong Foundation, a charity that helps give voice to artists who struggle with mental illness or substance use disorder. Al Kinney, Jordan Gow and Mathew…

Introduction by Gabrielle Grace Abbott

Throughout my own struggles with substance use disorder and mental illness, Hungarian-Canadian physician Gabor Maté's experience and insight have proven invaluable in changing how I view myself and my addictions. From him I learned that…

BIRDSONG David Martin New Music Foundation announces Canadian singer/songwriter line-up for first BIRDSONG ALBUM, set to begin recording in Ottawa and Toronto in October and November 2020. Deadline for east and west coast provinces for the Music Fund extended…

FRONT PAGE NEWS: The Ottawa Citizen connected with BIRDSONG Foundation director Margaret Konopacki this week for a brave retelling of her (and her son David Martin's) personal story, and an in-depth look at our foundation's cause, purpose and passion for…

FYI Music News connected with us for an in depth look on our cause and purpose. Read more by clicking here.

My late nephew David’s birthday passed recently and my heart continues to ache from the loss. 

He would have turned 32 had he lived. David was a talented singer, songwriter and musician. He, like so many young people, lived with…

Negative thoughts about oneself are particularly damaging, and often lead to depression and isolation – both gateways to myriad dangerous mental health conditions. The tragic thing is, these thoughts are very often completely false.  

Only through awareness and investigation can…

Twenty-five years ago, a lengthy bout of insomnia – combined with an excessive amount of anxiety about the “lack of sleep” – gradually rendered me unable to perform on my job as an ICU RN. I had difficulty remembering simple…

For her own website, From Pain To Purpose, inaugural Birdsong Ashley Bell has recounted her experiences and thoughts during the period that led up to her life-changing musical collaboration with the BIRDSONG Foundation – and beyond. It is a…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Canada’s New National Charity BIRDSONG (The David Martin New Music Foundation)
Announces Line-up of Canadian Musicians for Debut Album
“BIRDSONG – FIRST FLIGHT 101” (Full Album will be Released May 1, 2022)
Three tracks to be released…

“David was my birdsong – fragile, loving and gifted in song.”     

– Margaret Konopacki

From: Dave Martin ! Sent: Tuesday Dec. 27 2016 - To: Margaret Konopacki
Subject: Your song!! Here’s the song Mum! Love you SO much!!!! Hope you…

“As a songwriter, you make the sort of observations, commentary, and expressions that allow listeners a better connection with intimate dimensions of their experience in a way that is almost impossible to do otherwise.” 

Allan Kinney’s mental health odyssey…

"Songwriters have a duty to hear, see, and feel the hurt and the joy, and turn it into a language and experience that everyone can understand. Love always wins, and music is its most powerful weapon against all sorrow.” –…

"My music helps to ground me and gives me a sense of purpose, a feeling of being grounded and flying – simultaneously." – Jordan Gow

Ottawa singer/songwriter and inaugural BIRDSONG recording artist Jordan Gow  was diagnosed at the age of…

Dom Polski - The Polish Combatants of Canada Hall in Ottawa, Ontario was the scene of BIRDSONG - The David Martin New Music Foundation's second artists' showcase on October 6, 2022. The sold out affair was designed to smash the…

As the song says… oh, what a night!  I’m so pleased for my friend and colleague, Margaret Konopacki, who presented a fabulous showcase of singer/songwriters who live with mental health issues and/or substance use disorders for whom…

By Sean Plummer 4/23/19 | www.samaritanmag.com

Mental health problems are on the rise in America, and Godsmack’s Sully Erna knows it. He remembers being a troubled kid and all these years later, at 51, feels this is the area he…