You don’t have to have a musical background or ability to benefit from Music Therapy. Music Therapy has helped individuals of all ages and abilities.
The Canadian Association for Music Therapy defines Music Therapy as the skilful use of music and musical elements by a accredited music therapist to promote, maintain, and restore mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health. Music has nonverbal, creative, structural, and emotional qualities. These are used in the therapeutic relationship to facilitate contact, interaction, self-awareness, learning, self-expression, communication, and personal development.
In layman’s terms this simply means using music and music activities as a tool in achieving non-musical goals and objectives to improve a person’s quality of life.
During a Music Therapy session, the therapist and client use a wide range of activities from singing, playing instruments, moving to music, improvising, and composing. The session may also include imagery exercises or simply listening.
Clinical work begins when the trained music therapist conducts an assessment of the client, looking at physical, emotional, cognitive, communication, social and musical factors. Using the assessment, the music therapist then designs an individualized treatment plan with specific goals and objectives.
Music therapists work with a wide variety of client populations including but not limited to the following:
- Geriatrics
- Alzheimer’s Disease & Other Dementias
- ALS
- Stroke
- Parkinson’s Disease
- Palliative Care
- Grief work, Personal growth & Stress management
- Pain, anxiety & insomnia issues
- Developmental Disabilities
- Mental Health
- Brain Injury
- Schizophrenia
- Substance Abuse
- Autism Spectrum Disorders
- Pervasive Developmental Disorders
- Children with emotional disorders
- Childbirth & Neonatal Care
“I regard music therapy as a tool of great power in many neurological disorders because of its unique capacity to organize or reorganize cerebral function when it has been damaged.”
- Dr. Oliver Sacks
