• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Mike Skinner Music

Mike Skinner Music

  • Home
  • Contact
  • About
    • What I Do As A Musician
    • What I Do As An Advocate
    • Testimonials
    • Biography
    • Awards
    • Accomplishments
  • News
    • Articles
    • Video
    • Interviews & Performances
  • Music
    • Album: Waitin’ For A Train
    • Album: Train of Tears
      • Thank You
    • Album: Pirates
  • Presentations
    • Presentations, Workshops and Writing
    • Let Michael Talk At Your Next Meeting
  • Advocacy
    • Why Advocacy?
    • Creativity, Mental Health and Advocacy Resources
    • Hope, Healing & Help for Trauma and Abuse
    • Peer Support and Help
    • Famous People With A Mental Health Concern / Illness
  • My account

Mike Skinner: Striking a Chord

October 7, 2013 by Michael Skinner

In the early nineties, Mike Skinner had it all. “I was happily married with my wife…my partner of 21 years. We had five great children. I had a nice home and a very successful business—I had the American Dream,” he says. “Then it all came crashing down…”

In 1993, Mike started having flashbacks of the physical and sexual abuse his parents inflicted on him as a child. Reliving these horrors left Mike coping with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. Within two years he lost his business and his marriage collapsed. “I was hurt and I was angry,” Mike reveals. “But I wanted to channel it into something positive.” As he became involved in the community, Mike realized he was not alone.

“When I was going to drop-in centers, peer support groups, and hospitals, I learned that so many [people with mental illnesses] have a history of trauma or abuse and no-one was addressing it. They were getting lots of pills, but they weren’t getting much help.” In addition to coping with his diagnoses, Mike was surprised by the stigma and discrimination he now faced.

Despite his history as a professional drummer with ’70s hard rock band Train, and 15 years of running his own successful music management business, “when I said I wanted to go back into music, many mental health practitioners told me that I might volunteer in a library someday, [but] I would never work again.” For Mike, who had supported himself since childhood, the idea of losing his livelihood and his passion was doubly devastating.

Finding his voice

Luckily, there were peers and professionals who supported Mike in his dreams to get back into music. “I can still see the faces of those who treated me with kindness and compassion,” he says. A drummer all his life, their encouragement helped him pick up a guitar and start writing his own songs to perform.

Gradually, Mike spoke out against the stigma of mental illness and the lifelong trauma of abuse. “I [was] quoted in local newspapers and little cable TV shows,” he remembers. Word of mouth spread and, “next thing I know, people started asking me to talk at conferences.” After several events, the feedback he received from audience members encouraged Mike to incorporate songs from his three albums into his presentations.

Today, the 55-year old Manchester, New Hampshire resident makes his living traveling the country as a speaker, performer, and advocate. Mike attends between 16 and 24 conferences a year, but he’s careful to pace himself. “It’s very emotionally draining,” he says, “even though it’s work I enjoy doing. It’s one thing to say, ‘I’ve lost two brothers to suicide,’ but when I perform the song “Black Rain,” which is about those dark times, it really hits home.”

In sharing some of these losses, Mike is able to show his audience that hope and determination can win in the end. “There is light at the end of the tunnel,” he says, “and I truly believe that, even when I have dark days I can still somehow say, ‘It’ll be better tomorrow.’”

Mike hopes his perseverance will help him with his next great task: Working on an autobiography. “I’m finally tack- Mike Skinner: Striking a Chord by Liesl Barrell BREAKING THROUGH Photo: Sandra Patient “I can still see the faces of those who treated me with kindness and compassion.” 18 •the faces of those who treated me with kindness and compassion,” he says. A drummer all his life, their encouragement helped him pick up a guitar and start writing his own songs to perform.

Gradually, Mike spoke out against the stigma of mental illness and the lifelong trauma of abuse. “I [was] quoted in local newspapers and little cable TV shows,” he remembers. Word of mouth spread and, “next thing I know, people started asking me to talk at conferences.” After several events, the feedback he received from audience members encouraged Mike to incorporate songs from his three albums into his presentations.

Today, the 55-year old Manchester, New Hampshire resident makes his living traveling the country as a speaker, performer, and advocate. Mike attends between 16 and 24 conferences a year, but he’s careful to pace himself. “It’s very emotionally draining,” he says, “even though it’s work I enjoy doing. It’s one thing to say, ‘I’ve lost two brothers to suicide,’ but when I perform the song “Black Rain,” which is about those dark times, it really hits home.”

In sharing some of these losses, Mike is able to show his audience that hope and determination can win in the end. “There is light at the end of the tunnel,” he says, “and I truly believe that, even when I have dark days I can still somehow say, ‘It’ll be better tomorrow.’”

Mike hopes his perseverance will help him with his next great task: Working on an autobiography. “I’m finally tackling the fears that have kept me from writing about my life,” he says. “It’s the comments that fuel me. People say, ‘you need to keep doing this.’ And that’s huge for me.”

Mike’s journey of triumph over tragedy inspires his audience members. Tim Blake saw Mike speak in November, 2008 at a peer-support conference in Salisbury, North Carolina and says, “It was spellbinding.” He adds, “Everybody got caught in the moment; it was like we were in a trance.” Later, Tim read the lyrics from Mike’s song “Walk with Me” to his support group. “You could hear a pin drop,” he recalls. “And when I was done, someone said, ‘Wow, could you read that again?’ So I did.” Tim has since started writing songs of his own.

Betty Dahlquist, the executive director of the California Association of Social Rehabilitation Agencies (CASRA) was also moved by Mike’s story, and invited him to be their fall 2008 keynote presenter in Los Angeles. The crowd gave Mike a standing ovation. “He created a place where it was not only safe for people to hear his story,” Betty says, “but for others to fi nd a way to say, ‘that’s me too.’ That’s a magical thing.” She pauses. “And he’s a magical guy.” Betty looks forward to welcoming Mike to speak again in 2010.

Mike often contributes to Kim Cavanagh’s mental health newsletter, The Pearl, in which Kim publishes many of her own articles and poetry. A domestic violence and rape crisis advocate in Lowville, New York, Kim is both a trauma survivor and consumer. “My favorite song on his latest album, Waitin’ for a Train, is “Joy.” When he sings, ‘There’s joy in knowing that you’re still around.’ I think about other survivors in my life and it’s a big thing to know they’re still here, because we lose so many people to depression and suicide.”

Reconnecting

As someone who has made such powerful connections with others, perhaps the most heart-wrenching time for Mike was when he was alienated from his daughters in the wake of his breakdown and the turmoil of divorce. “It’s unfortunate,” he refl ects, “and it should never have happened. You don’t get those years back.” Thankfully, time has healed many of those wounds and Mike is back in contact with his older children.

In 2003, his eldest daughter, Alisa, called him for the fi rst time in years to share her joy at becoming a mother. Since then, Mike has become an important part of their lives and he visits at least twice a year. “My daughter, Allison, had to write a book in kindergarten of different things she likes,” says Alisa, “and she drew a picture of her Grandpa Mike… They both light up when they see each other!” Now when Mike is on the road, he sends Allison postcards, keeping alive a tradition he started when his own daughters were young and he was touring with his band. Fortunately, Mike has renewed his career as a musician, and his advocacy has brought him a new purpose. “I do feel I can help create a change in my little neighborhood,” he says. “If I can reach one person, it does help me feel better at the end of the night.”

Written by Liesl Barrell: Sprint 2009 –  Anchormag.com

 

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

Recent News

  • Surviving Spirit Newsletter May 2025
  • I Hear You Calling(c) By Michelle Skinner and Michael Skinner – Live Performance
  • Monday Music sharing – Peace Of Mind
  • Surviving Spirit Newsletter April 2025
  • April is Child Abuse Awareness Month; thoughts, statistics and a song to share

RSS Trauma & Abuse News

  • We CAN do something!
  • Artificial Intelligence is coming for us all
  • ACEsTooHigh on hiatus
  • This isn’t your usual article about how bad domestic violence is; it’s about a solution
  • To end domestic violence, heal the abusers…say those who do
  • 2 Worth checking out: Neighborhood uses ACEs to prevent opioid deaths; burgeoning research about PACEs science
  • 2 Worth checking out: innerBoy app a promising solution for family violence. Could Ozempic curb cravings for alcohol, shopping & gambling?
  • 2 Worth checking out: Childhood adversity linked to health, financial problems in older adults; bill introduced to untangle poverty from child neglect
  • ACEsTooHigh spins off from PACEs Connection
  • Mayday at the Bottom of the World

Archives

  • June 2025
  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • October 2023
  • July 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • November 2019
  • May 2019
  • March 2019
  • July 2018
  • December 2017
  • June 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • September 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013

Categories

  • Articles
  • Interviews and Performances – Audio Files
  • Mental Health Advocacy
  • Music
  • News
  • Sexual Abuse Advocacy
  • Uncategorized
  • Video

Footer

Address

38 River Ledge Drive
Goffstown, NH 03045
Google Map/Directions, Contact Form

Site Links

Biography
Testimonials
Resume
Awards
Events
Contact

Advocacy

Why Advocacy
Trauma / Sexual Abuse / Incest
Peer Support And Help
Mental Health Info & Resources
The Famous List

Connect With Mike

Visit Mike On Facebook Visit Mike On Twitter
Visit Mike On YouTube Visit Mike On MySpace
Get The RSS Feed