![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1765435928_258_grey-placeholder.png\")
![\"BBC](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/4596ff70-d74e-11f0-8a07-c3f29e3145bc.jpg.webp.webp\")
BBC<\/p>\nBBC<\/p>\n
Tom Walker’s 2017 hit single, Leave A Light On, was about a friend with a drug addiction<\/p>\n
Singer-songwriter Tom Walker has spoken out about struggles with his mental health, saying writing music has been his therapy.<\/p>\n
Walker wrote about a friend with a drug addiction in his 2017 hit single Leave A Light On, and his 2024 track Lifeline was written after the sudden and unexpected death of a close friend.<\/p>\n
“Songwriting was a kind of therapy for me, and I was writing about the things in my life which made me ecstatic, and also the things I really struggled with,” the 33-year-old from Chelford, Cheshire, said.<\/p>\n
He was speaking out as part of his role as an ambassador for the suicide prevention charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM).<\/p>\n
Leave A Light On was Walker’s breakthrough moment, with the song clocking up more than 750m streams on Spotify more than 250m views on YouTube.<\/p>\n
“When I first started, I didn’t realise how personal those lyrics would be, when I thought they only applied to me,” he said. <\/p>\n
“But that’s the wonderful thing about songwriting, because people find their own stories and their own journey in the words.”<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/e32ed830-d757-11f0-845f-035d2c9c25f7.png.webp.webp\")
<\/p>\n
Walker joined the charity Campaign Against Living Miserably as an ambassador in 2024<\/p>\n
He added: “I’ve heard some beautiful stories over the years, and tragic ones where people have lost family and friends too early.<\/p>\n
“Hearing how much that song meant to them is heartbreaking, but also a beautiful thing as a writer.”<\/p>\n
Walker added that the more comfortable people can get about sharing the hardships they face, the less stigma there will be around talking about mental health issues.<\/p>\n
Talking about CALM, which he started working with last year, he said it has a helpline open over the festive period for anyone who might need it.<\/p>\n
“CALM do amazing work,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Anyone can ring up the helpline from 5pm until midnight, it’s completely free of charge, and for people who might be struggling or having a tough time.<\/p>\n
“There’s a lot of pressure around Christmas. <\/p>\n
“It’s dark and gloomy, so it can get too much for some people.”<\/p>\n
He also highlighted the charity’s guide on “how to get through the winter blues”.<\/p>\n
“It’s all about getting outside, staying connect, and keeping moving, even if it’s just once a week.”<\/p>\n
He added: “Some people are ashamed to reach out because they don’t want to burden people.<\/p>\n
“If you’re not having a good time, reach out and ask for a bit of help.<\/p>\n
“Sometimes we all need a little helping hand.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BBC Tom Walker’s 2017 hit single, Leave A Light On, was about a friend with a drug addiction…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,136],"class_list":{"0":"post-348182","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}