10 Powerful Ways Music Heals Teenagers and Our Inner Child
- Brainz Magazine
- Sep 2, 2025
- 6 min read
Emma G is an award-winning singer/songwriter, 2x TEDx speaker, and empowerment coach specializing in trauma-aware voicework, mental health advocacy, and music-led healing. She is the author of "Mental Health Sounds Like This" and founder of Emma G Music LLC.
Do you ever feel like therapy isn’t enough? Like talking about your feelings doesn’t quite scratch the surface? For years, I felt that too, until I found the missing link: music. As someone who’s undergone ten brain surgeries and spent decades navigating trauma recovery, I’ve learned firsthand how powerful music can be for mental health. And I’m not just talking about listening to sad songs in the dark (though that has its place). I’m talking about actively using songwriting and singing as tools for transformation.
Whether you’re a teen, a parent, or a professional navigating healing, here are ten tangible ways music can support your mental health journey.
1. Music helps us relax
Stress is practically a rite of passage for teenagers: exams, peer pressure, social media, and family tension. Music acts like a balm for the nervous system. Numerous studies show that listening to music can decrease cortisol levels and activate the brain’s reward system, which floods the body with feel-good chemicals like dopamine and serotonin.
Think about it: why do so many of us instinctively reach for headphones when we’re overwhelmed? Whether it’s lo-fi beats during homework or a soulful ballad after a breakup, music offers an emotional exhale. It doesn't just feel relaxing; it is a scientifically backed method of stress relief.
2. Singing activates the parasympathetic nervous system
We often forget that our voice is part of our body’s natural regulation system. Singing (especially slow, sustained notes) stimulates the vagus nerve, the main highway of the parasympathetic nervous system. This is the “rest and digest” side of our physiology that helps us feel calm, centered, and safe.
For teens dealing with anxiety or trauma, singing isn't just a form of self-expression; it's a literal reset for the body. It’s why so many people cry while singing: the emotional release is paired with a physical relaxation of the nervous system.
3. Writing songs helps us identify, simplify, and understand emotions
Teenagers are bombarded with emotions they don’t always have words for. Songwriting helps translate all that inner chaos into something clear and structured. By turning abstract feelings into lyrics, teens learn to name what’s happening inside them.
Even just journaling feelings is powerful, but songwriting adds the element of rhythm, rhyme, structure, and melody, which pushes the brain to simplify, organize, and understand. It’s emotional alchemy: transforming confusion into clarity and pain into power.
4. Coaching can help turn songwriting into reframing
On its own, songwriting can be cathartic. But when paired with guidance from the right coach or therapist, it becomes a structured opportunity for cognitive reframing, a psychological technique that helps individuals shift from disempowering beliefs to more supportive and empowering ones.
For example, a teen might start a lyric with “I’m drowning in the dark,” but through the coaching process, they might rework it to say “I’ve learned to breathe underwater.” The emotional truth remains, but the perspective evolves from victimhood to perseverance and resilience.
5. Posture while singing builds confidence
Have you ever tried to sing with slouched shoulders? It doesn’t work. Singing well requires open posture: shoulders back, chest lifted, feet grounded. This not only optimizes breath support and vocal projection but also sends powerful feedback to the brain: I am confident. I am safe.
Teenagers (and adults!) who struggle with self-esteem often walk through the world collapsed inward. Practicing good singing posture regularly can “trick” the brain into adopting a more empowered stance, retraining both body and mind to show up more fully in life.
6. Rhythm helps us move stress through the body
Trauma and stress aren’t just emotional, they’re physiological. When we experience emotional overload, those unprocessed experiences often get “stuck” in our bodies. Rhythm, whether it’s tapping, drumming, clapping, or even beatboxing, offers a powerful way to mobilize and release that energy. After all, emotion is simply energy in motion. Where that energy goes is up to us.
Movement synchronized to rhythm helps regulate the heartbeat, soothe the nervous system, and provides a predictable container for emotional chaos. This is why somatic coaches, trauma-informed educators, and music therapists often integrate rhythmic movement into healing practices. For teens, this can be life-changing: instead of bottling emotions, they learn to move through them, literally.
7. Using our voices helps us reclaim our power
Many young people, especially those who have experienced trauma, bullying, or marginalization, learn to silence themselves. But voice is one of the most primal ways we express agency. When a teenager learns to use their voice with intention, pitch, volume, and resonance, they begin to reestablish a connection with their personal power.
Speaking is one thing. Singing, sustained, expressive, vulnerable, is a whole other level. Every note is a declaration: I exist. I matter. My voice matters. I am here. Whether it’s belting out an anthem or whispering a vulnerable lyric, singing empowers the singer to step out of invisibility and into their truth.
8. Music builds connection and belonging
Loneliness is an epidemic, especially among teens navigating identity, neurodivergence, or trauma (and yes, I’m including the pandemic here as a very real traumatic experience). But music has a magical way of bridging the gaps between people. Whether it’s jamming with friends, singing in choir, or simply bonding over a shared playlist, music fosters connection.
Neuroscience backs this up: making music together activates brain regions associated with empathy, trust, and cooperation. And from a mental health standpoint, feeling seen and heard is essential for healing. Music gives teens not only a voice, but a village.
9. Songwriting creates a safe place to practice vulnerability
Vulnerability is scary, especially for young people who’ve been hurt, misunderstood, or ignored. But songwriting offers a safe and controlled space to explore those deeper emotions. You can say the things you’re afraid to say out loud. You can rewrite painful moments into poetic metaphors. You can rage. You can cry. You can hope.
And the best part? You don’t have to show anyone. But if you do decide to share your song, you’re already one step ahead of vulnerability: you’ve practiced, processed, and prepared. That kind of emotional rehearsal builds resilience and courage in a world that doesn’t always make space for softness.
10. Music helps heal the inner child
Whether you're 15 or 50, your inner child still lives inside you, and they often carry unspoken wounds. Music is one of the few tools that can reach across time, bypass the logical mind, and speak directly to that younger self. A lullaby can bring comfort. A powerful chorus can offer protection. A heartfelt lyric can offer validation that was missing in childhood.
For teens, engaging with music as creators, not just consumers, gives them the chance to nurture themselves in real time. And for adults working through inner child healing, music becomes a bridge to self-compassion, integration, and emotional reparenting.
We live in a world that often tells us to quiet down, fit in, and move on. But the truth is: your voice is your key to accessing your unique power. Whether you're strumming a guitar, writing lyrics, or singing your story out loud, music gives you permission to take up space, feel your feelings, and rewrite your narrative.
You don’t have to be a pop star. You just have to be willing to show up for yourself. Because healing doesn’t always happen in a therapist’s office. Sometimes, it happens in a chorus, in a verse, or in the quiet moment when you realize: “Hey, that’s me in this song,” and finally realize that you’re the one able to write that song.
If you’re curious about how to use songwriting and singing as tools for your own mental health, or the mental health of the young people in your life, I’d love to connect. Let’s amplify healing, one voice at a time.
Learn more or book a coaching session here.
Follow me on Instagram @emmagmusic
Read more from Emma G
Emma G is an award-winning singer/songwriter, 2x TEDx speaker, and empowerment coach who helps teens and adults transform pain into power through trauma-informed voice work and songwriting. After surviving 10 brain surgeries due to hydrocephalus, she discovered the healing potential of music and self-expression.
Her book and album, Mental Health Sounds Like This, offer a neuroscience-backed, culturally grounded approach to emotional wellness. She’s the founder of Emma G Music LLC and has been featured by FOX, WUSA9, The Washington Post, CBS, CBC, and more. Her mission? To save the world, one song at a time.
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