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.