Questions?

What is music therapy?

In the UK, “Music therapy is an established psychological clinical intervention, which is delivered by HCPC registered music therapists to help people whose lives have been affected by injury, illness or disability through supporting their psychological, emotional, cognitive, physical, communicative and social needs.” Definition from the British Association of Music Therapists website.

What is a music therapist?

Music therapists complete a 2-year postgraduate music therapy training, which then qualifies them to register with the HCPC, the body responsible for regulating music therapists. You can check any music therapists’ registration on the HCPC website, using the form on the front page. Any music therapist providing music therapy for any client should be registered with the HCPC.

My child has music therapy on their IECHP. How can I make sure they receive it?

You can contact the British Association of Music Therapists, who will help you try and find a registered music therapist in your area, or if you are in Leeds & Bradford, you can contact me, and I will help you if I can.

Any person who is providing music therapy to your child should be registered with the HCPC, and you should be able to find out if they are by checking their name against the register on the HCPC website. Most music therapists would ordinarily send home a consent form at the start of a course of therapy, which covers confidentiality, the scope of treatment, and consent to record the sessions, if appropriate. These forms should have their name and contact details on them.

If a person claiming to provide music therapy is not registered, and is not a student currently training on a recognised music therapy course, it may be that the person is not a trained music therapist, and therefore what your child is receiving is not music therapy. If this is the case, contact the British Association of Music Therapists, who may be able to help.

I want to train as a music therapist. Can I shadow you at work?

As music therapy is a psychological therapy, all sessions I provide are confidential, therefore I am not able to provide work experience or shadowing opportunities. I am unfortunately not able to provide placements for music therapy trainees at the moment either.

The best way to find out whether music therapy would be a good career choice for you would be to spend a few years working in a care setting, either in a special school or care setting. Most people who are music therapists now have this kind of background.