Rosa’s story

It’s Children’s Mental Health Week, a time to spotlight the importance of young people’s mental health. This year we’re sharing Rosa’s music therapy story, and how it helped her to thrive and unlock her passion for performing.

Music therapy helped Rosa’s confidence to flourish

Rosa is autistic and can experience quite severe anxiety, which made things especially difficult when she began secondary school. School could be an overwhelming place for Rosa; she would often cry, and her attendance was low. As the only fully verbal child in her year group, the opportunities for Rosa to build relationships with her classmates were limited. She appeared a little isolated, and her confidence seemed low.

To help support her, Rosa was referred for one-to-one music therapy sessions at her school, with music therapist Jenny. It was hoped that this would help Rosa to manage her emotions, express herself and boost her confidence.

Music therapy is by far the most interactive and successful for [Rosa] that I’ve seen in some time.

Miriam, Rosa’s mum

Rosa’s school attendance significantly improved after starting music therapy. Her mum, Miriam, said that it was “a huge motivator to attend school on a Wednesday” and that this then helped her to attend on other days too. Staff at Rosa’s school also noticed that she seemed more upbeat and excitable on those days. Rosa would tell her mum how much she loved her music therapy sessions with Jenny, and she’d express her disappointment when she couldn’t attend due to illness.

Every time we sing together, I feel like we’re connected by our voices, like we’re in perfect harmony.

Rosa, to her music therapist Jenny

Initially, Rosa was keen to spend her music therapy time sharing her favourite songs with Jenny and learning to sing them together. Her passion for music was evident, and it clearly brought her a lot of joy. As she became more settled at school, she found new ways to express herself by trying different instruments, improvising together, and eventually writing her own songs.

Rosa had been interested in performance for some time. But various factors, including a lack of confidence, meant she hadn’t been able to pursue it. However, music therapy helped unlock this passion. During sessions with Jenny, Rosa’s favourite thing to do was make videos of them performing together. Her confidence grew over time, and she even performed her first original song, “Magical Music,” in front of her entire school during assembly one day!

Rosa shines very bright when singing and dancing and the value of it to her is clear to see. She got a lot from the 1:1 – namely, confidence and learning that she does have musical ability and can use it to make herself and others happy

Miriam, Rosa’s mum