{"id":164149,"date":"2018-05-18T17:13:49","date_gmt":"2018-05-18T21:13:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=164149"},"modified":"2018-05-18T17:13:49","modified_gmt":"2018-05-18T21:13:49","slug":"lovato-has-concert-activities-for-mental-health-awareness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/05\/18\/lovato-has-concert-activities-for-mental-health-awareness\/","title":{"rendered":"Lovato has concert activities for mental health awareness"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"On<\/a>
On Demi Lovato’s latest U.S. tour, she opened each show with \u201cYou Don’t Do It For Me Anymore,\u201d an ode to shaking her addiction to substance abuse. (Photo<\/a>: Demi Lovato\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NEWARK, N.J. \u2014 On Demi Lovato’s latest U.S. tour, she opened each show with \u201cYou Don’t Do It For Me Anymore,\u201d an ode to shaking her addiction to substance abuse.<\/p>\n

But while the song is inspiring, it’s what happened before the show that seemed to matter most to her.<\/p>\n

Lovato, who says that she \u201cthrives\u201d with bipolar disorder, held what can be described as one-hour therapy sessions for a few hundred fans before she taking the stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s something that I’m passionate about, mental health, and raising the awareness and taking away the stigma away from it. So, if I can do that on tour then awesome,\u201d Lovato said in an interview with The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

Lovato has been a mental health advocate for several years and worked with a pharmaceutical-sponsored awareness campaign at one time. For her U.S. tour, she partnered with CAST Centers, wellness clinics that treat mental health and substance abuse issues (the sessions are not a part of her European tour that kicks off later this month). Lovato became a co-owner after being treated there in 2011.<\/p>\n

Before a recent show in Newark, New Jersey, Lovato spoke about her struggles, which besides bipolar disorder have included alcoholism, drug addiction, and eating disorders.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy life has gotten a lot easier as I’ve continued to have more and more sobriety under my belt. And you know, for me it’s just about asking for help when I need it. And I think that’s the key to getting the help that you need is not being afraid to ask people when you need some assistance or support,\u201d Lovato said.<\/p>\n

The sessions were free to those who purchase tickets to the concert but spots were limited. Lovato attended them, but was not the focus.<\/p>\n

In Newark, 18-year old Ashley Hill was near the front of the line. She said she waited for hours but was satisfied.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve been in therapy for a couple of years. I just wanted to be a part of this experience,\u201d Hill said.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cThere (were) a lot of things I struggled with for a long time but Demi being able to come out of it, I was able to be more open about what I’ve gone through.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEWARK, N.J. \u2014 On Demi Lovato’s latest U.S. tour, she opened each show with \u201cYou Don’t Do It For Me …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":164150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[1076,16720,18157],"class_list":["post-164149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","tag-concert","tag-demi-lovato","tag-mental-health-awareness","mauthors-john-carucci","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}