It was over 18 years ago, in 2004, that singer Dame Hinewehi Mohi and her husband George Bradfield founded the Raukatauri Music Therapy Centre with support from Aotearoa’s music industry. In June 2018, we undertook our most significant venture since opening our doors when we launched our first Regional Centre in Hawke’s Bay. Hot on its heels was our second Regional Centre in Whangārei opening in 2019. In 2022, we took another exciting step in opening our THIRD Regional Centre, snuggled in the Eastern Coast of the North Island, in the Bay of Plenty.
This project was visualised long before it was actualised, with preparation starting back in 2020 in response to the many music therapy enquiries that both Raukatauri Music Therapy Trust and Music Therapy NZ had received from the Bay of Plenty community. With a population of over 300,000 people and not a music therapist in sight, the Bay of Plenty definitely felt like the right next step to furthering our mission of providing quality and accessible music therapy to all people, whatever their needs.
While the global pandemic pushed the opening date back again and again, we didn't let the time go to waste and instead set to work making sure that the Regional Centre would have a strong foundation to be established on. In 2021, the Trust applied to the Ministry for Culture and Heritage’s CARE (Creative Arts Recovery and Employment) Fund in order to do this. We were not only awarded a grant from the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, they believed in our vision so strongly, that they awarded us enough funds to underwrite our Bay of Plenty Regional Centre through 2024! The Ministry for Culture and Heritage dedicated $450,000, the largest grant in Raukatauri's history, over three years to help us open in the Bay.
The Ministry for Culture and Heritage's support has made it possible for Raukatauri to set fees in the Bay of Plenty that are even more highly subsidised than those we offer in other regions, allowing even more people to access music therapy. We were obviously thrilled by this outcome and incredibly grateful to the Ministry. Before we even had an opening date or location, we received an outpouring of enquiries and interest in our upcoming brand new music therapy centre.
If you haven't already met her, let us to introduce you to Denby Dung Cabaldon, the Bay of Plenty Regional Manager. Denby and her husband Dylan have joined us from her home town of Honolulu, Hawaii where she has lived since earning her Master of Music in Music Therapy from the University of Miami Frost School Of Music. Throughout her training and clinical work, Denby has served clients with a variety of strengths and needs including infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, toddlers in early intervention, children with medical needs, adults with developmental disabilities, and older adults in hospice. Her diverse experiences meant that we felt that she would be the perfect person to establish our newest centre, and after spending only a few days with the Auckland team upon her arrival in Aotearoa, we knew we had made the right choice. Denby's warmth, humour and care shine right from the moment of meeting her.
Denby already has a full caseload of clients in the Bay. She starts and ends her week at the Pāpāmoa Community centre, seeing individual clients. The community centre is handily connected to the Pāpāmoa Library, making it just a step away for Denby to get any books she needs for a music therapy session. On a Wednesday, Denby does a tiki tour of three different primary schools between Pāpāmoa and Tauranga, seeing a mix of groups and individual tamariki.
Thursday and Friday are Denby's travelling days. Thursdays see her heading out to Katikati Primary School and Katikati College, and on Fridays she is able to settle in at the Eastbay REAP Community Centre in Whakātane. Denby starts her Friday morning with an early childhood community group, making music with tamariki and their parents, and she gets to spend the rest of the day with her individual clients.
Denby and Jen with the car that enables Denby to deliver music therapy throughout the Bay of Plenty, generously donated to Raukatauri by Coombes Johnston BMW Tauranga.
“Working with everyone at Raukatauri has been truly amazing. I have felt welcome and supported from the first day I walked through the centre doors. I love being a part of a team that respects, encourages, and cares about one other. Everyone at Raukatauri has so many talents, which they share with incredible kindness. Raukatauri exudes everything that is good in the world, and it has been an honour to be a part of such a wonderful organization.
I have felt so much Aloha from the Bay of Plenty community, as they have welcomed me with open arms. It has been an absolute joy to get to know my clients and their families, and I am grateful that we are able to create music together
”
Our plans for the Bay of Plenty Region don’t stop there, we are eagerly looking forward to a second therapist joining Denby in September to be based in Whakatāne, with future plans to serve both Rotorua and Matamata. We are thrilled and humbled at the reception and warmth that we've received from the community in our short time of being in the Bay. Thank you to The Ministry for Culture and Heritage, to Denby and her husband Dylan, and to the Bay of Plenty community for allowing us to be a part of your whānau.