Music Therapy

“I kept looking at the piano and asked if someone could teach me to play. Then I started to write my own song. It let me stop thinking about the downfalls and start thinking about the upside.” – Graham, who suffered a traumatic brain injury.

We don’t expect every person to compose their own melody, but music’s capacity to stimulate both physical and emotional responses, such as co-ordination and self-expression, has led Music Therapy to become an important part of many of our patients’ care plans. 

How we help
Working in groups and on a one-to-one basis, our trained Music Therapists use music to help people overcome difficulties stemming from their disabilities. For some this may be the first step towards regaining a positive sense of self, and to being able to relax; for others it may help them express feelings of loss and frustration, or with processing information, improving memory or building physical abilities.

Music Therapy works on many different levels, and at the RHN we use it to help people:

-	communicate and make choices by encouraging the use of ‘yes’ and ‘no’ responses and by selecting different musical instruments, genres or artists.
-	regain self-awareness by actively taking part in musical improvisation and by relating to others.
-	maintain and develop physical skills by playing percussion instruments and using music technologies.
-	improve memory and cognition through understanding cause and effect and sequential patterns; and through musical and verbal prompting.
-	increase motivation and express feelings by making music.
-	develop speech using music to prompt vocal responses and control breathing.
-	build physical strength and increase mobility by incorporating music into exercise plans.
-	relax, reflect and adjust to a new life with disability.