South East
- The BRIT School for Performing Arts & Technology, Croydon
- The Fountain Centre, St Luke's Cancer Centre, Royal Surrey County Hospital, Guildford
- Headway East London, Headway House
- St Giles School, South Croydon
- Selhurst Early Years Centre, Selhurst
- Tunstall Nursery, East Croydon
- Winterbourne Nursery, Thornton Heath
- Wolfson Neurorehabilitation Centre, Wimbledon
- Ellenor Children's Hospice, Dartford
Music therapists:
Harriet Crawford (Regional Head Music Therapist)
Alex Street
Charlotte Hill
Neil Foster
Shlomi Hason
Clare Greaves
Melanie Wells
The BRIT School for Performing Arts & Technology, Croydon
Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy in collaboration with the BRIT Trust is building a new Music Therapy Unit in the grounds of the BRIT School for Performing Arts & Technology in Croydon. The Unit is due for completion in 2008.
The Unit will house a therapy room, office and waiting space. Music therapy sessions will take place there in addition to presentations, training, and research. It will be the base for a team of music therapists providing a Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy service to people of all ages in local health, social care, educational and community settings. Please contact Harriet Crawford (see end of page for details) if you would like to make a referral for music therapy sessions when the Unit opens, as she holds a waiting list.
Harriet Crawford is currently developing the Nordoff-Robbins Outreach service in the South East. See below for details of current projects.
Harriet also works part-time within the BRIT School, and collaborates with staff where possible to raise the students’ awareness and understanding of music therapy through educational sessions and observation of work. BRIT School students can also be offered music therapy as part of the established counselling service in the school.
The Fountain Centre, St Luke’s Cancer Centre, Royal Surrey County Hospital, Guildford
The Fountain Centre is a charitable organisation attached to St Luke’s Cancer Centre in the Royal Surrey County Hospital. The music therapy service is made possible by the collaboration of the Fountain Centre Charity with Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Outreach and the work began here in May 2002.
Music therapy is one of many complementary therapies offered at the Centre to people with cancer and their families. Patients find the sessions really helpful at what is a very difficult time for them.
Comments from music therapy patients include:
“I’m amazed at how creative this is – I had no idea I was creative!”
“This is the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to me; it’s absolutely wonderful.”
“Music therapy really helped me to get through the most difficult and challenging time in my life.”
In 2005 Meridian TV filmed part of a music therapy session and interviewed Gillian Young, the music therapist.
Headway East London, Headway House
Headway East London provides services to adults who have acquired brain injury, their families and carers. Music therapist Alex Street provides music therapy sessions for both individuals and groups.
St Giles School, South Croydon
St Giles School is a Special School for young people aged 3-17 with physical disabilities and complex medical needs. The music therapy service here is run in partnership with Whitgift School, Croydon. There is not a regular music therapist working at St Giles in 2008 but there are plans to re-start music therapy in the near future.
This quote is from one of the teachers about a boy with severe physical disability:
“It’s so amazing to see and hear D having the motivation to communicate like that with you at the piano. For anyone who has worked with him it is very inspiring to know how much such a withdrawn, disabled boy can communicate in music; in his expression, his voice and his playing.”
The BRIT School for performing arts also runs an outreach programme at St Giles. Harriet Crawford, Regional Head Music Therapist, in February 2008 took a group of 9 year 12 BRIT students into St Giles for 2 weeks to make music with some of the pupils there, as the culmination of several months' work with the BRIT students on how to make music with children using a Nordoff-Robbins music therapy approach.
Selhurst Early Years Centre, Selhurst
Work started in November 2005 at Selhurst Early Years Centre with nursery age children, many who arrive at nursery from backgrounds of social deprivation, and some with developmental delay.
After an initial 6-week pilot project, staff noticed positive changes in the children’s confidence, social skills and communication. The Early Years Centre has now increased the music therapy provision to one full day per week, which is provided by music therapist and cellist Melanie Wells. Melanie works in a specially designated music therapy room with individuals and small groups of children. She also gives open sessions in the classrooms, working together with staff.
Tunstall Nursery, East Croydon
Music therapist Neil Foster has been working at this thriving children’s centre since January 2007. After a successful six week pilot period Neil began working with children both individually and in group settings, working closely with staff to assess the needs of the children. He works with the children in a variety of settings in the school, and music therapy takes place in the classrooms and in the playground as well as in the music therapy room.
Winterbourne Nursery, Thornton Heath
Following a successful pilot project in the summer of 2006, Winterbourne nursery decided to provide music therapy for their children through Nordoff-Robbins on a longer-term basis, offering music therapy for children on the autistic spectrum. Charlotte Hill is the music therapist, and works closely with staff to support and enhance communication through music.
Wolfson Neurorehabilitation Centre, Wimbledon
Music therapy began here in November 2006, for one year initially, funded jointly by the St George’s Charitable Foundation and Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy. The Wolfson Centre provides rehabilitation to adults who require intensive therapy following acquired neurological conditions resulting in physical or psychological disabilities.
The music therapist, Shlomi Hason, works as a member of the multidisciplinary team in the hospital for one and a half days every week. He offers music therapy as part of a programme of care and rehabilitation for patients, which also includes neuropsychology, physiotherapy, speech and language therapy and more. Sessions can be one-to-one or in groups - sometimes including staff and/or relatives of the patients. The format chosen depends on the specific therapeutic needs of each person.
Ellenor/Lions Children's and Adults' Hospice, Dartford
Clare Greaves is the music therapist at Ellenor/Lions Hospice, working with children and adults with life-threatening illnesses and their families. She has worked since January 2007 as part of a team of nurses, counsellors and a play therapist. Working at first with young children, she is now developing and expanding the service to include music therapy with teenagers (using the latest in music technology!), with adults, and also music therapy sessions with bereaved siblings.
If you are interested in finding out more about the work of Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy South East, or you would like to set up or request a music therapy service, or refer a child or adult to the waiting list for the new music therapy Unit in the grounds of the BRIT School, please contact us on:
Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy in the South East
Regional Head Music Therapist
Harriet Crawford
tel -
07841 997894
email - nrmt.southeast@nordoff-robbins.org.uk