After a successful music therapy pilot programme in 2019, The Selwyn Foundation was thrilled to receive a grant from the Charles Rupert Stead Charitable Trust which enabled them to work with Raukatauri to expand their music therapy services in 2020. This grant has allowed Raukatauri’s Registered Music Therapist Alicia, Student Music Therapist Hannah and Dance Movement Therapy Student Annie to run small group and individual sessions with clients attending Selwyn’s Anchorage and Lavender Cottage dementia day centres, and for residents in its Ivan Ward care centre including the Brian Wells House memory support unit at Selwyn Village.
While dementia is a degenerative disease, international research has found that music therapy can retrieve communication, cognitive and emotional capabilities which had previously disappeared and which contribute to meaningful social connection. Music therapy can play an instrumental role in dementia treatment from its initial stages, when patients and families are struggling to come to terms with the diagnosis, through late stage treatment since music aptitude and appreciation are two of the last remaining abilities in dementia patients.
Raukatauri staff who have been delivering services at The Selwyn Foundation have been using the internationally developed Music Therapy Engagement Scale for Dementia to track the progress of clients. While our work is in its early stages, therapists’ data collection in the months prior to and then in between lockdowns showed strong results, with participants at all Selwyn facilities where we were working demonstrating measurable improvements in the assessment domains of Relatedness through Music, Communication, Emotional Response and Overall Responsiveness. Despite the significant disruptions to the programme due to Covid-19, music therapy participants have been able to maintain their progress throughout the year and rebounded quickly from the skill regression that came during the country’s initial lockdown.
Our therapists were also able to document beautiful moments of connection and expression through music, such as when a previously reserved and anxious lady led the group in singing Pokare Kare Ana, when a gentleman with no recollection of being a musician was able to pick up a ukulele and strum a tune to the delight of his fellow group members, and when a talented Māori musician and previously fluent Te Reo speaker was able to share waiata from the region of his childhood.
The Selwyn Foundation’s Community Programmes Manager, Heather Whineray, says: ‘We’re delighted to have entered this partnership with The Raukatauri Music Therapy Centre and to be able to offer this stimulating, engaging and inspirational form of therapy within our specialist memory support care centres.
‘There’s clear evidence that music therapy is a key component in the promotion of mental and physical health for adults with memory loss. It has the power to improve a person’s memory recall and can also lead to positive emotional changes and improved mood. It promotes physical movement and activity in participants, as well as increased opportunities for communication and social engagement. Our clients enjoyed it immensely during our pilot programme last year, so we’re pleased to be able to achieve similar benefits for a wider group of our clients and residents in 2020.’
And just a note that while this programme is exclusive to clients of The Selwyn Foundation, Raukatauri’s Registered Music Therapists are also able to provide individual music therapy sessions for older adults at our centres or in their home or rest home. If you have a loved one who you think would benefit from the stimulation and engagement of working with a music therapist, you can complete a referral on our website or contact us at info@rmtc.org.nz.
