The arts therapies community in Wales is mourning the loss of Music Therapist Melissa Elliott who passed away on 9th October 2025 aged 47.
Melissa had worked as a Music Therapist in Aneurin Bevan UHB in Older Adult Services since 2017. She was passionate about her role, with a desire to improve awareness and access for people living with dementia to music therapy, and she inspired many to advocate for music therapy in their own services. Melissa was always pleased to support other regions to develop business cases for music therapy and as a result there have been increases in music therapy provision in dementia care in Wales.
Melissa was a member of the Allied Health Professions dementia network committee and sat on the steering group that supported the development of the AHP dementia Framework for Wales. For five years Melissa was the co-ordinator of the Wales area members group of the British Association of Music Therapy, and she represented the Arts Therapies at WAHPC (Wales Allied Health Professions Committee) for several years.
She took on the role of BAMT Wales area coordinator when it had been vacant for some time and was focused on building community amongst Music Therapists and promoting increased contact with other arts therapists in Wales. She successfully regenerated enthusiasm and drive to connect and learn from each other.
Melissa qualified as a Music Therapist in 2007 and set up work with fellow graduate Maxine Bennett. Co-working as a team and complimenting each other’s skills they worked with adults with learning disabilities and complex challenging behaviour who were not served by statutory services. As a freelance music therapist for many years, she embraced the challenges of working with different client groups and extending her own knowledge and expertise. The multi-faceted work she did included providing personal therapy to Music Therapy students, working with adults supported by the National Autistic Society, and, through the arts therapies organisation Chroma, leading ‘Sing and Grow’ groups for babies and parents at risk, and work in post adoption, brain injury, and medico legal cases. She provided supervision and support for therapists and organisations, and had several publications in British and European journals.
She was knowledgeable, thoughtful, and reflective, with the ability to provoke thought and stimulate ideas and reflection in discussion with her peers.
She was hugely appreciated as a colleague. Her co-workers at Chroma describe her as ‘energetic, enquiring, and ethical in her work, with a balancing amount of positivity and robust challenge at the core of her work. She helped to make us a better organisation’. Team and co-working was at the heart of her practice and her NHS colleagues and clients really benefited from this: ‘Melissa greeted everyone she met with kindness and compassion, and she was always willing to share her intelligence, experience and deep knowledge with those around her. She was a wonderful person and advocate for her profession and for Older Adults.’
Melissa had a wide range of music and performance interests; playing the accordion, French horn, and piano, and in the early 2000s was an original member of internationally renowned Klezmer group She’koyokh. She played regularly with friends in a circle dance group, and also fitted in occasional appearances with Cardiff amateur orchestras. Her background was in classical music, obtaining her BA in music from York university. She then moved to Prague and established a music department at an international secondary school 'The English College in Prague' in 2000. This led to further studying in the field of ethnomusicology, specialising in Jewish music, followed by a PhD in ethnomusicology researching Romani music making in Ostrava, Czechia. As part of this Melissa spent a year living with Roma, making music with them, participating in community life, and attending as many musical celebrations as possible.
Melissa had a bright and busy personality and was quick to laugh and find the fun and adventure in things. She was a private person, whilst also having a wide circle of friends and taking an active role in setting up and leading initiatives in her community of Gwaelod y Garth. She cared intensely about the environment, nature, animals, social justice, and about good and natural health, and was part of a litter picking World Record on the Taff trail. She loved the outdoors – wild swimming, and walking and running up Garth Mountain at every opportunity. She was loyal and devoted to supporting her wider family, and passionately invested and interested in the lives of her husband and children.
I think it likely that she would have been appalled at the idea of her friends and colleagues spending time writing about her achievements and qualities. She was a modest person for whom the most important thing was home with her husband and two children.
She will be remembered for her laughter, loyalty, care, generosity of spirit, thoughtfulness, fun, and strong ethics and values. She had a gift for making friends and connecting with those she came into contact with. She leaves a huge gap in the lives of many.
Written by Becca Sayers, friend and fellow Music Therapist, with help and contributions from Natalie Elliott, Laura Dovey, Maxine Bennett, Daniel Thomas, Kate Cropper, and Jayne Williams.