Relating the innovative ways in which assistants and collaborators can become an integral part of a course of music therapy, this book explores how the involvement of a diverse range of individuals, such as family members, learning support assistants, caregivers and medical staff, can contribute to successful sessions. Illustrated by clinical examples, the book will help music therapists and students to make the most of opportunities to collaborate with individuals other than the client who may be present during therapy sessions. The book also takes into account the challenges that can arise in music therapy collaboration, and explores the relationships that can develop between music therapists, clients and collaborators.
About the Author: John Strange chaired the UK Association of Professional Music Therapists from 1995 to 1998, also representing Britain on the European Music Therapy Committee (now Confederation). From 2002 to 2004 he was external assessor of improvisation on the Masters in Music Therapy programme at Aalborg University, Denmark. Since 1995, John has provided expert evidence on music therapy in almost thirty High Court cases of medical negligence. He has contributed chapters to two previous Jessica Kingsley publications and book reviews to the British Journal of Music Therapy. John is also a prolific composer, mainly of church music. Helen Odell-Miller OBE is a full time Professor of Music Therapy at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge and worked previously for many years as a therapist researcher and manager specialising in adult mental health in the NHS. She has published and lectured internationally and led research projects looking at clinical outcomes in dementia, and arts therapies in the adult mental health field. She is a board member of the International Centre for Research in the Arts Therapies, the Council for Allied Health Professions Research, and The Music Therapy Charity. She sings in Cambridge Voices, and is also a violinist and pianist. Eleanor Richards is a Senior Lecturer in Music Therapy at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. Until 2013 she was a senior music therapist in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust. She has a particular interest in group work, and is a team member at the Group Therapy Centre, Cambridge. She is also a psychotherapist and supervisor in private practice. She has published widely and contributed to national and international conferences. She is a member of the editorial board of the British Journal of Music Therapy.