North West
- Adlington Manor, run by Barchester Healthcare
- Park Lane School, Macclesfield
- Grange School, Fallowfield, Manchester
- Piper Hill High School, Northern Moor
- Manchester Children's Hospital (MCH)
- Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital School
- The Waterside Resource Unit, Swinton
- Young Oncology Unit (YOU) Christie Hospital NHS Trust
- Low-Moor Resource Centre, Bradford
- Cheadle Royal Hospital, Manchester
- Neurological Rehabilitation Unit, Walton Centre, Liverpool
- Privately Referred Music Therapy
Nordoff Robbins is becoming well-established in the North West where we have been providing our services for over five years now.
The two and a half year MA in Music Therapy (Community Music Therapy / Nordoff Robbins) is now running in Manchester and the surrounding area. Follow this link for further details.
© Nordoff Robbins
We are grateful to Chetham’s School of Music for providing us with an office base in the centre of the city.
Where we currently provide services in the North West:
Adlington Manor, run by Barchester Healthcare
Adlington Manor is a care home for older people and those suffering from dementia, based in Poynton, Cheshire. It offers a range of services to residents including nursing, dementia care, respite stay and specialist care including complementary therapies and music therapy. Since July 2006 Richard Sanderson has provided Nordoff Robbins music therapy services at Adlington Manor. This is used both in individual and group settings, and the music therapist is also involved in other music making activities such as church choir, theme days and celebrations.
Park Lane School, Macclesfield
Park Lane School caters for pupils aged 2 – 19 years who have severe and complex learning and/or communication difficulties. Most have additional needs: sensory, physical, emotional and behavioural difficulties, including those on the autistic continuum. The school gained Specialist Special School Status for Communication and Interaction and the music therapy service is a valued part of the school’s provision. Felicity North has been working within the school since November 2007, linking in with staff and therapists to provide music therapy for individuals and groups throughout the school, as well as providing music materials for more general use.
Grange School, Fallowfield, Manchester
Grange School is a school for children with complex learning difficulties, particularly those with autistic spectrum disorders. Since 2004 Nordoff Robbins has provided a music therapist to work with children of all ages in individual and group settings. There is very good co-operation between Brigitte Schwarting (music therapist) and the teachers, who acknowledge the value of music therapy for their students.
Piper Hill High School, Northern Moor
Piper Hill High School is for children aged 11-19 with severe learning difficulties, based in Northern Moor, Manchester. It is a very successful school and has won awards and distinctions for the quality of its provisions. The staff at Piper Hill are supportive of, and enthusiastic about, music therapy. Nordoff Robbins has provided music therapy at the school since April 2005. Music therapist Richard Sanderson works in the classrooms using guitar and voice and small percussion instruments with children who have profound and multiple disabilities. With children who have severe learning disabilities, the work takes place in a school hall using piano and drums. Music has a high profile in a school and Richard is also involved in organising various music events.
Manchester Children’s Hospital (MCH)
Since 2005 we have been offering music therapy at three Oncology and Haematology Wards (Borchardt Unit, Short Stay Unit, Bone Marrow Transplant Unit) at the old site of Manchester Children’s Hospital in Pendlebury. Since June 2009, as the hospital moved to the brand new site in the centre of Manchester we are excited to be a part of the new service there. This work is supported by Nordoff Robbins in conjunction with CLIC Sargent, a charity that supports children and young people with cancer and leukaemia as well as their families. The Oncology and Haematology Wards at MCH are highly specialised units providing first-class medical care to the young patients up to the age of 15. Apart from medical staff these units benefit from collaborations with various specialists, including play therapists and teachers, who co-operate closely with the music therapists, Rachel Fenwick and Rebecca Sayers. Rachel and Rebecca work in a variety of ways, including by the children’s beds, with groups and individuals, with parents and siblings, involving the nurses and the carers, using songs that children know and improvising music to accompany a storytelling session.
Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital School
Since April 2007 we are also offering music therapy on various other wards in the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital. This project is supported by the school and we collaborate closely with teachers who work there and who actively support Rachel Fenwick's and Rebecca Sayers' music therapy work.
The Waterside Resource Unit, Swinton
The Waterside Resource Unit is a part of City of Salford’s New Directions Learning Disability Service, based in Swinton. It is a specialized unit offering all intensive therapies required for those individuals over 18 with multiple disabilities needing a complex package of care. Since September 2006 Nordoff Robbins North West has offered weekly music therapy in Waterside, focusing particularly on enabling the most disabled clients access to communication, relationship and expression. The staff of Waterside are very supportive of music therapy. The music therapist is Richard Sanderson.
Young Oncology Unit (YOU) Christie Hospital NHS Trust
Following the completion of a successful pilot project in 2005 we are now offering two days of music therapy at YOU. The Christie's NHS Trust is the largest single-site cancer treatment centre in Europe and internationally recognised. The Young Oncology Unit at Christie’s Hospital is one of the eight units in Britain supported by the Teenage Cancer Trust. The Teenage Cancer Trust focuses on the needs of teenagers and young adults with cancer, leukaemia, Hodgkin's and related diseases by providing specialist teenage units in NHS hospitals. Robin Mitchell is the music therapist at YOU and he works in a purpose-built music therapy room, and by the patients’ beds or in the outpatients waiting area. The work ranges from patients listening to music played by the therapist to patients actively improvising, song-writing and recording. Music composed or sung during the sessions was performed during the Teenage Cancer Trust National Conference and some of these songs are also available for listening to on the internet.
Low-Moor Resource Centre, Bradford
Low Moor Resource Centre is a day care setting within Bradford District Care Trust for adults with learning disabilities who have very challenging needs. Music therapist Katy Gaul, began work here in March 2009, providing individual and group sessions. The adult learning disability services are currently in transition, and it is hoped that music therapy will continue to support the service-users as they move into other day care settings.
Cheadle Royal Hospital, Manchester
We have collaborated with Cheadle Royal Hospital on various projects since 2006. Rachel Ecclestone has been working there since 2008 on establishing music therapy on three wards with young people aged 13-18 with mental health problems.
Neurological Rehabilitation Unit, Walton Centre, Liverpool
In September 2007 we began offering music therapy at this Unit, which provides rehabilitation services for people with various forms of brain injury and other neurological problems and conditions. Mary Clayton is the music therapist. Currently the post is for two days a week. Mary works as part of the multi-disciplinary team and offers both individual and group sessions, according to patient need. Music therapy has a variety of applications within neuro-rehabilitation including facilitating emotional expression, communication, mobility and cognitive function.
Privately Referred Music Therapy
In addition to our work within host institutions, we are also able to offer a number of places for privately referred music therapy sessions in Manchester. Please contact us on nrmt.northwest@nordoff-robbins.org.uk for further details.
Nordoff Robbins North West
If you are interesting in finding out more about any aspect of the work of Nordoff Robbins in the North West, or you would like to set up or request a music therapy service, please contact the Head Music Therapist.
Oksana Zharinova-Sanderson - Head Music Therapist
Tel: 0161 838 7231 / 07922 003529
Fax: 020 7267 4369
Email: nrmt.northwest@nordoff-robbins.org.uk
Oksana was born and grew up in Lviv, the centre of Western Ukraine, where she studied piano at the Lviv Conservatoire. Following her Nordoff Robbins music therapy training in London (1996-98) she worked for five years in Berlin, Germany, setting up music therapy work with traumatized refugees and torture victims. In November 2004 she moved to Manchester to become Head Music Therapist of Nordoff Robbins North West, where at that time little music therapy was available. Since then Oksana has built up a team of music therapists who work in a variety of settings with different client groups across the Greater Manchester region and the North West. Since 2008 she has been involved as Head Regional Tutor on the MA in Music Therapy (Community Music Therapy / Nordoff Robbins), the first music therapy training programme in the north of England.