Moorlands View

Music therapy is something that everyone can engage with. Music is the best healer – it’s food for the soul.

Patient, Moorlands View

Moorlands View is an NHS inpatient unit for men with mental health problems requiring treatment under conditions of low security. It is part of a wider mental health hospital in Bradford, and provides care for 33 men across three wards.

Our partnership began in 2011, providing music therapy two full days a week. Music therapy is highly valued across the unit for its ability to support clients’ recovery. It creates opportunities for social interaction, as well as reducing experiences of isolation. For people at Moorlands View, music has provided a creative outlet for emotional expression, helping to build confidence.

Music therapy is a way to rebalance and deal with difficult emotions. It’s fun and helps you deal with challenges. It helps me deal with depression and my bereavement.

Patient, Moorlands View

Music therapy has created opportunities for connection. One person at Moorland View faced difficulties engaging conversationally due to language barriers and mental health. Working with one of our music therapists, they were able to use music as a vehicle for language and expression, engaging consistently in weekly sessions.

Music therapy has helped to develop opportunities for community building across the unit and wider hospital. This includes the weekly singing group attended by both patients and staff. One staff member spoke of the benefits of the group, saying; “It provides a regular opportunity for a diverse group to come together regardless of skill, experience or mental health and progress towards a shared goal of creating music through our voices. Together, we recognise and appreciate the differences”.

Now well embedded at the unit, music therapy is widely-recognised as an important part of the what the multi-disciplinary team offer.

The different approach and perspective that music therapy brings cannot be undermined. It has engaged service users better than the other therapies traditionally available within mental health inpatient settings.

Lead Occupation Therapist, Moorlands View

We produced this story in partnership with Moorlands View.