Head, hands, heart, humanity: The Creative Dementia Collective is taking a whole person, whole team approach to caring for those living with Dementia and their care partners. Using music therapy, art therapy, pet therapy, and Dementia Education specialists, they are empowering their clients to celebrate who they are, until the end of life.

October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month! This week we are celebrating what it means to be differently abled and how music therapy can support the abilities and needs of those with Down Syndrome.

Today Ellisa discusses literature on intergenerational music therapy. This kind of programming is the bringing together of multiple generations in a group music therapy setting. From cognitive stimulation, to physical function to social connections, music can bridge the gaps and make a common ground for amazing intergenerational experiences.

Music therapists are prone to several mental health risk factors: as a helping professional, we are prone to compassion fatigue and burnout while doubling as professional musicians puts us at an increased risk of depression, anxiety and high rates of stress. New years are new beginnings and perhaps this is the year that you prioritize your mental health.

This week’s learning comes from a recent article published in the Journal of Music therapy: "Individualized Education Program Team Members’ Perceptions of Music Therapy: An Interpretivist Investigation" by authors Rebecca West, PhD, MT-BC, Amy Furman, MM, MT-BC, Michael J Silverman, PhD, MT-BC. 

I will leave you with a final quote from the authors “it is possible that these young people are more familiar and comfortable with chaos than we are as music therapists. It may then be counter-intuitive to attempt to eliminate chaos so that we can experience ordered, highly structured groups at odds with the environments to which young people return.”

GIM is also known as The Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music because it was developed by Dr. Helen Bonny. She was a pioneer in the music therapy field and was one of the first people to understand that music has a profound impact on a person’s psyche and went as far as to make it her life’s work to do research on the subject and develop her own method of music therapy.