Our Team of Heads of Music Services
Phoene Cave
Head of Music Services, Nordoff Robbins Inner London & Central East
Phoene has enjoyed a varied career, working as a professional singer, vocal coach, workshop leader and lecturer. She has also worked in the record and television industries in production and promotional roles. She set up the vocal team at a west London music services and introduced a whole class singing programme at primary level, she has trained nursery practitioners in music making and has run large community choirs. She has project managed the build of a sensory musical garden for children with a six figure budget and in 2009-10 led the Singing for Breathing workshops at the Royal Brompton Hospital for patients with chronic lung disease. She holds a Bachelor of Music and a PG Dip MT and is also a qualified shiatsu practitioner. Phoene joined Nordoff Robbins in September 2010 where she oversees services at the London Centre as part of her role. She is keen to inspire others to see how music can totally transform lives as it has hers and many of those she has worked with.
Janet Graham
Head Music Therapist, Nordoff Robbins North East
Janet worked as a composer and piano teacher before training as a music therapist at the Nordoff Robbins London Centre in 1989-90. She worked for many years as a therapist in London and Hertfordshire, and as a tutor on the Nordoff Robbins MMT training programme, before moving to Co. Durham in October 2007 as Head Music Therapist for Nordoff Robbins North East. She also works as a music therapist at two care centres in Billingham and Peterlee, respectively, where she finds it very rewarding when patients in rehabilitation reach the point where they are well enough to return home, and is continually moved and uplifted by the spirit of those who have lost so much.
Lindsay McHale
Head of Music Services, Nordoff Robbins South East
Lindsay plays piano, violin and guitar, and left an eight-year marketing career to retrain as a music therapist at the Nordoff Robbins London Centre in 2006. Since qualifying she has worked in a variety of settings including hospitals, schools, a dementia care home, and a specialist nursery. She now runs, and is based at, the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy Unit in Selhurst, Croydon. Lindsay became Head of Music Services for Nordoff Robbins South East in September 2010 and is working on developing a number of new posts and short-term projects. She is passionate about music and what it can bring to the children and adults she works with and feels incredibly lucky that she had the opportunity to retrain and pursue this wonderful work. When she’s not working you can find her writing songs or walking in the countryside!
Rachel Millman
Head Music Therapist, Nordoff Robbins South West & Central West
Rachel is a flautist, and trained as a music therapist in 1994. She has worked with children and adults of all ages in various settings, including schools, hospitals, care homes and community projects. Now based in Dorset, Rachel has been Head Music Therapist of Nordoff Robbins South West since January 2006 and additionally assumed responsibility for Nordoff Robbins Central West in 2010. She is currently working on projects with people with dementia and neuro-disabilities. Through her work and the people she feels privileged to work with, Rachel constantly experiences how music connects people and supports their creativity, communication and potential. In her own time Rachel is trying to master an old wooden flute that she bought on e-bay. When not making music herself, she likes to be outdoors by the sea!
Stuart Wood
Head Music Therapist, Barchester Nordoff Robbins Initiative
Stuart qualified as a music therapist at the Nordoff Robbins Centre in London in 2000. In 2005 he started the Barchester Nordoff Robbins Initiative (BNRI), a unique collaboration between the UK's premier healthcare company and Nordoff Robbins, a world leading music therapy charity. This has been supported and celebrated by both organisations and now brings music therapy to 20 nursing care centres, along with developing and researching new innovations in music therapy, musicality training and community music. Stuart writes for specialist music therapy textbooks and journals, and in more generalist music publications. He is a frequent speaker at national conferences in the UK and is a student on the Nordoff Robbins PhD Programme, at City University. He also teaches a little, on the Nordoff Robbins music therapy training programme, and at the University of Health Sciences, Sapporo, Japan.
Oksana Zharinova-Sanderson
Head Music Therapist, Nordoff Robbins North West
Oksana was born and grew up in Ukraine, where she studied piano at the Lviv Conservatoire. Following her Nordoff Robbins music therapy training in London (1996-98) she worked in Germany, setting up music therapy work with traumatized refugees and torture victims in Berlin. She returned to the UK in 2004 as Head Music Therapist for Nordoff Robbins North West, setting up, developing and promoting Nordoff Robbins music therapy services in medical, social, educational and community settings across the North West region of England. Oksana is also a tutor on the Nordoff Robbins MMT training programme. She is passionate about making high quality Nordoff Robbins music services available across a wider geographic area, bringing health and fulfilment to more people and communities.
