Specialist care home Willowbeck has partnered up with a unique music therapy organisation, Chroma, to deliver music therapy workshops for care home residents.

The partnership will see the organisations working with residents to support neurological development, physical rehabilitation and general wellbeing.

The nurse-led home will play host to the music therapy, a form of neurological and psychological rehabilitation process which uses music, sound, instruments, and music technology to support people. It is a regulated healthcare profession and one of the Allied Health Professionals (AHPs).

Chroma’s experienced therapist, Sally Watson, will work with residents one day a week across an eight-week period to encourage them to get involved in playing a range of musical instruments, singing and song-writing. There will be eight individuals involved in the pilot scheme, receiving one-to-one sessions which will focus on their specific needs. In some cases, this will include improving functional movement and mobility through music therapy.

In addition to the one-to-one sessions with the selected eight residents, there will be open sessions where any of the care home’s residents can participate in the music therapy sessions. The group environment will further encourage development of residents’ social and communication skills.

The residents involved in the scheme have a variety of complex conditions and the sessions will be tailored to their needs – music instruments will be used to support functional, neurological and psychological rehabilitation while singing and song writing and singing sessions will be tailored for residents with communication and social needs.

Sally is a qualified music therapist and neurologic music therapist, working in a variety of settings with people of all ages, including schools, hospitals and prisons. She currently specialises in working with adults and children with a range of complex needs.

Sally said: “Music therapy is proven to increase self-expression, confidence and communication, as well as improving social skills, co-ordination and concentration. I will be working with residents to assess their current skills and at the end of the eight weeks I will carry out the same assessment to monitor developments and positive changes.”

Helen Baxendale, Clinical Director at Exemplar Health Care, said: “We are looking forward to welcoming Sally in to our home and seeing the development in our residents. Many of our service users enjoy arts and crafts so I’m sure that they will enjoy and make the most of the music therapy sessions. I look forward to seeing positive developments at the end of the eight weeks.”

www.exemplarhc.com