Published on: 15/11/20
Today is European Music Therapy Day so we’re sharing how music therapy helped Nieve during her rehabilitation at The Children’s Trust following a brain injury.
Music therapy plays an important part in rehabilitation, with the power to inspire and motivate children to walk, talk and smile again after a life-changing accident or illness.
Rob, dad of Nieve who had an acquired brain injury aged 12, said: “We are so proud of how music therapy has helped Nieve.”
He explains that when Nieve was run over, music helped her focus on what she could do, rather than what she couldn’t.
Rob said: “It was a fantastic motivator for her.
“Nieve chose songs that expressed how she was feeling and that were motivating in her recovery. She was motivated by a desire to get her voice back as it sounded before her injury.
“When she first arrived at The Children’s Trust she would write down what she wanted to say, but by the time she left we could understand 90% of what Nieve was saying.”
Rob explains that to end her time at The Children’s Trust, Nieve, along with staff and friends, sang ‘Stay With Me’ by Sam Smith just before she rang the going home bell. He said: “It was such a proud moment for me.”
The theme of European Music Therapy Day 2020 is ‘Make a Melody’. EMTC, the Confederation of professional music therapy associations in Europe, which runs the day, said: “Everyone makes melodies and everyone can make a melody. It's the way of expressing how we feel.
“In music therapy making a melody is a great way to make contact with a client and discover new possibilities, and a client can always respond with his or her own melody. During European Music Therapy Day we will ‘make a melody’ together, and demonstrate how making a melody in music therapy works."
Read more about Nieve and find out more about the process of music therapy.
