LONDON, May 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Music Therapy Week 2013

8 - 15^th June 2013

Music Therapy Week (MTW) is a week of campaigning to help raise awareness of how music therapy can improve the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in our communities across the UK.  Music therapy can help people of any age who find it difficult to communicate verbally, due to a physical or cognitive disability, emotional distress or mental illness.

The British Association for Music Therapy is a UK charity which promotes public awareness of music therapy and supports music therapists' professional practice and research. This year sees the return of Music Therapy Week (MTW2013) from 8 - 15^th June 2013 and we hope to build on the success of Music Therapy Week 2011. Music Therapy Week offers clinicians and the general public the opportunity to come together in a variety of ways to promote and celebrate music therapy across the UK.

Donald Wetherick, Chair of the British Association for Music Therapy says:

"All over the UK professional music therapists are helping vulnerable people to overcome difficulties in communication, interaction, participation and development, through the skilled use of music. Music Therapy Week is an opportunity to celebrate this work, find out more about music therapy in your area, and raise awareness of the potential of music therapy to make a difference to people's lives. Please support MTW in whatever way you can."

Lesley Schatzberger, Director of Jessie's Fund says:

"I've seen some amazing transformations of children through music therapy. For example, a girl at one children's hospice had just been in hospital for surgery, and she was sad and despondent. Within minutes of coming into the music therapy room she was animated and laughing, and when her music therapy session ended about forty minutes later, she seemed like a different person. Those are the moments which make the hard work raising funds worth it!"

To find out what is happening near you and how you can be involved, please visit http://www.bamt.org or our Facebook page British Association for Music Therapy (BAMT) or follow us on Twitter @musictherapyuk or contact pr@bamt.org

Notes to Editors

• About BAMT

BAMT is a professional body representing music therapy and music therapists in the UK. Having charitable status, the aim of BAMT is to support and promote the highest standards of practice, research and public information to further the advance of music therapy for public benefit. For more information, please visit http://www.bamt.org 

• About music therapists

All practicing music therapists are registered with the Health and Care Professions Council. Music therapists work in health, education and social care. Many are self-employed and others are employed by statutory bodies such as the NHS, or music therapy charities around the UK which are reliant on public contributions to fund their life-changing work.

• About music therapy

Music plays an important role in our everyday lives. It can be exciting or calming, joyful or poignant, can stir memories and powerfully resonate with our feelings, helping us to express them and to communicate with others. Music therapy uses these qualities and the musical components of rhythm, melody and tonality to provide a means of relating within a therapeutic relationship. In music therapy, people work with a wide range of accessible instruments and their voices to create a musical language which reflects their emotional and physical condition; this enables them to build connections with their inner selves and with other around them. Individual and group sessions are provided in many settings such as hospitals, schools, hospices and care homes.

Some examples of the types of conditions or illnesses which can be helped by music therapy are:

• Early bonding / relationships
• Autism
• Brain injury / Stroke
• Dementia
• Learning disabilities
• Mental health e.g. depression, schizophrenia
• Trauma
• Palliative and bereavement care

For further information or media related enquiries please contact the BAMT office on +44-(0)20-7837-6100 or email info@bamt.org  or pr@bamt.org 

SOURCE British Association for Music Therapy