Welcome to Waves Music Therapy
Music has the power to reach us and for those with additional needs, music therapy is an effective and meaningful way of encouraging communication, play & self expression. Music therapy can be a lifeline for those with complex needs and supports the whole person improving quality of life.
Music therapy supports social, emotional, communication, mental health, learning and physical needs. Using music is an effective means of making connections with other people and powerfully encourages self expression without needing to translate feelings into words.
Waves Music Therapy are a team of experienced, registered music therapists who work across the county of West Sussex. We support any person with any need to access creative therapeutic support.
“Our mission is to ensure that music therapy is accessible to everyone. We are committed to ensuring that there are no barriers to accessing our service and we work hard to raise funds to support our beneficiaries to access our life changing therapeutic services.”
In 2021 we became a charity (No. 1194782)
BBC Red Nose Day 2024
Featuring Waves Music Therapy
Waves are extremely proud to feature on this year’s BBC Comic Relief Red Nose day!
Of the thousands of projects that Comic Relief supports every year, the BBC chose our Rapper In Residence project to film for Red Nose Day 24 with our young spoken word artists, rappers and musicians telling their stories of the impact of their sessions with Waves professional rapper, Louie Le Vack.
The settings where we work
Neo-Natal
Neo-Natal
Music therapy is used in neonatal wards to encourage soothing for babies, regulating of heartbeats, decreased anxiety, pain management, increased wellness and bonding with parents and nursing staff.
Early intervention
Early intervention
Music Therapy greatly encourages early learning such as play, vocalising, sharing and focus and can support academic and social and emotional growth
Early years work
Early years work
“Creative self expression offered in an interactive therapeutic environment can support many aspects of emotional, cognitive and physical development.”- BAMT
Mainstream work
Mainstream work
Music therapy is an appropriate intervention for all and in mainstream work music therapists offer a particularly powerful way for children to engage in therapy that bypasses the need to translate feelings into words. Music therapy is engaging, enticing, creative and an effective way to explore and process feelings.
Autism
Autism
Music therapy can be a powerful way for children on the Autistic Spectrum to connect, communicate and play. Music therapy is child-led and the therapist uses their music to meet the child where they are, join them and encourage play.
Family Work
Family Work
Family Music therapy offers a space to play together, supported by the therapist, and there is no expectation of musical skill. It is a space where we come together playfully to hear one another.
SEMH
SEMH
Music therapy encourages positive development in social, emotional and psychological health and wellbeing.
Profound Needs
Profound Needs
Music reaches people, it offers opportunity to engage, to have a voice, to experience effective self expression and to connect. No musical skill is required to engage in music therapy and the therapist uses their music to reach people and encourage positive relationships.
Complex Trauma
Complex Trauma
Music therapy offers a safe and structured space where the non-threatening, non-verbal means of communication and play is through music. Music is naturally inviting and the therapists are highly trained in offering long-term, accessible therapy to those who will benefit from a safe space to explore and process difficult feelings in a healthy, consistent therapeutic relationship.
Forensic
Forensic
Bypassing the need for words, music therapy can offer a non threatening means of forming good, healthy therapeutic relationships.
Songwriting
Songwriting
A song can be a safe container for words that are too raw to speak. A music therapist will help weave a complex story into a simple refrain, held in sound.
Hospital Work
Hospital Work
Music can help to reduce stress and anxiety, it can even alleviate pain. Music therapy sessions can be accessed on the ward in open groups, or bedside work with individuals.
Dementia
Dementia
Music accesses different parts of the brain than language, so music can be used to communicate or engage with someone who has been diagnosed with dementia, even if they no longer speak or respond to other people’s words.
Addiction Treatment Centres
Addiction Treatment Centres
Many addicts discover that music-making allows them to be fully present – they come to find that losing themselves in music is more beneficial that some of the other coping strategies they have relied on in the past.
Palliative & end of life care
Palliative & end of life care
Music Therapy is the ‘active total care of patients’ and involves ‘the use of sounds and music within an evolving relationship between client and therapist to support and encourage physical, mental, social, spiritual and emotional well-being.’- British Medical Journal
COVID-19
COVID-19
During the pandemic, we have been able to reach clients through a variety of mediums, including video platforms and phone. Funding bags of instruments to lend out to clients, music therapy has kept connections going and provided a link between people right through the most difficult times.
2023 TRUSTEE ANNUAL REPORT
The excellent team at Waves have worked relentlessly over the year to build on its conversion to a CIO last year. In our second year, the charity has expanded its partnerships with local and national organisations as well as talented individuals that bring with them a wide variety of skills. Waves has been able to grow through providing a wider range of services to meet the needs of vulnerable young people and adults in the Sussex area through music therapy. Waves is developing a strong identity with practitioners who benefitted from the inaugural conference this year. As we look to next year, we are planning to expand and develop the board of trustees to support the CEO and team more effectively as the charity grows. The board would like to congratulate and thank Victoria for all her hard work and also the wider team at Waves who have made this a successful year.
