St Mary’s Care Centre

Music therapy for some of our residents has made the difference between them being able to communicate – and not.

St Mary’s Care Centre

St Mary’s Care Centre is a 63-bed nursing home. It supports a variety of complex care needs, including dementia and early onset dementia, enduring mental health issues and brain injuries.

Our partnership began in 2019. Together, through music therapy, we offer residents a platform to express themselves and their emotions in a safe environment.

Music therapy with Nordoff and Robbins doesn’t feel like a therapy, but it very much is. We have seen such a difference with the people we work with, in a positive way.

At St Mary’s, we work with people who have a variety of conditions and life circumstances.

One of our clients has asphasia and finds it challenging to use the correct words in everyday conversation. With music therapy, he is able to take part in a free-flowing interaction with music and lyrics, which offers him moments free of confusion and questions.

Another client has memory issues from a brain injury and finds social interactions very difficult as a result. However, with music therapy, he has “transformed as a person,” says an assistant psychologist from St Mary’s. Through working together, he has recalled how to play guitar, remembering lyrics and chords. This has offered him valuable opportunities for positive and meaningful social interaction, which are otherwise rare.

However, the team at St Mary’s say that “the most powerful thing was the change outside of our music therapy sessions. His mood lifted, he became more confident and engaging. Music therapy restored his sense of self identity.”

For some people, music therapy is the reason they get up and dressed in the morning. It supports them to restore purpose and enjoyment in their lives. For others, it has offered a way to improve memory, enabling them to feel whole again and improve confidence.

We produced this story in partnership with St Mary’s Care Centre.