Our Work With Charities
In bringing a music therapy service to Bristol we have several goals that we want to fulfil. We want to interact meaningfully with the communities in and around Bristol, as well as provide more access to arts and music therapy interventions with as few barriers to entry as possible. In working with local charities, we hope to meet these aims.
If you’d like to get in touch about developing music therapy oppertunities for your charity’s service users, or you’d like us to get in touch with a charity you support, then click the button to send us an email!
BAS x BMT - Spring/Summer 2025
Our second Group Music Therapy project with BAS saw a massive amount of interest. Our scope was to deliver 12 sessions to a maximum of 6 children across the Spring and Summer school terms. Based on the referrals recieved from parents, we aimed to explore personal expression, interpersonal interactions, dysregulation and difficult behaviour.
Outcomes
Personal Expression
Throughout the sessions we saw the children develop their own voices within the context of the group, building confidence to express themselves through their language and music with language and music in different activities.
Dysregulation & Masking
The group context allowed some of our group members to explore some of their neurodivergent traits. By providing a space for free expression and one that moved at the pace of the children we saw significant changes in how they managed their dysregulation and masking.
Interpersonal Interactions
We saw changes in how the highest attending group members interacted with eachother over the course of the group, providing oppertunities to explore conflict, negotiation and compromise, and how to accomodate others in activities that might be overwhelming for them. Supported through musical activities, these changes in how the children interacted was partially due to familiarity, but mostly due to the therapy group acting as a space in which exploring and experimenting with different ways of being themselves and with eachother was supported and safe, not only for them but for their peers as well.
BAS x BMT - Autumn 2024
In 2024 Bristol Autism Support (BAS) & Bristol Music Therapy (BMT) teamed up to provide group taster sessions and a group music therapy project for Bristol Autism Support service users.
We discussed Bristol Autism Support’s mission and what was possible together. We opened the question up, asking Bristol Autism Support service users what they wanted to see from a collaboration between our organisations.
Bristol Autism Support’s service users overwhelmingly responded that they’d like their children to be able to access group music therapy over the option for music therapy for carers of ASC children.
We held two taster sessions, North Bristol & South Bristol, later facilitating a music therapy group for six children, lasting eight sessions from September through to November.
The sessions included a mixture of musical games, storytelling, improvised music and reflection.
Outcomes
Together in Music
Children, parents and therapists agreed that group cohesion and togetherness in music changed over time, with members listening to eachother and contributing more together as time went on.
Social Interaction
The group members experienced a wide range of social interactions. Some were very positive, and some were difficult to navigate. Group members became more able to express their needs in the group, as well as better negotiate between eachother during games.
Sharing & Expressing
Some group members shared important personal experiences with the group. Their experiences were incorporated into the group music making. Some parents said that their child became more confident expressing themselves outside of the group.
Relationships
The group members experienced a variety of relationships between themselves and the therapists. Several parents fed back that group members had become friends outside the group, and continued to spend time together after the group finished.
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