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BAMT Blog

This is a new feature for the BAMT website, sharing thoughts and reflections from the Music Therapy community throughout the UK.

Thu 4 May 2023
Nicola Demosthenous qualified as a Music Therapist from GSMD in 2021. She has worked in a variety of settings including the NHS and Education Sector. Nicola's passion is Music Therapy for mental illness, from a trauma-informed, psychoanalytic, and spiritual perspective. She currently works for North London Music Therapy, producing content for their social media platforms which involves advocating for Music Therapy and its wider themes. She hopes to be back in clinical work soon. In this Special Edition blog, Nicola shares her personal journey and experiences to start a wider conversation in advance of BAMT's Disability, Diversity and Inclusion event, to highlight the realities of the accessibility challenges faced within the profession by those with disabilities.
Wed 12 Apr 2023
Mel Thomas has been the Music Therapist at Alder Hey Children's Hospital since 2012, working as part of the Clinical Health Psychology Team. She leads on Creative Arts Therapies in the Clinical Health Psychology Team and in Acute Paediatric Care. She completed an MSc in Psychology in 2017 as well as Adult and Child EMDR training between 2018-2023. In this blog she talks openly of the power of Music Therapy and the challenges of the setting.
Wed 5 Apr 2023
Joanna Turner is a Music Therapist in Wiltshire and Somerset who leads a team supplying bespoke therapy packages for under 25s. Joanna has worked with many children with Selective Mutism. Since her own child was diagnosed in 2020 she has concentrated on exploring and researching this rare condition and campaigning for therapeutic pathways to be put in place across the UK. 
Thu 14 Oct 2021

Crystal has worked in various settings with children of 0-19 both in and out of the NHS. She is a keen advocate for Makaton and enjoys exploring new possibilities of how Music Therapy can be offered. Julia has worked with children across education, NHS and community settings. She is also a mum to twins who help her develop her turn taking strategies at home!

Wed 28 Jul 2021

Ray Travasso is a Music Therapist and trained at the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Centre, London and graduated with a Masters in Music Therapy in 2002.  Ray works part-time at The Treehouse, East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices and is also Director and co-founder of Suffolk Music Therapy Services, an organisation that provides Music Therapy to children and adults across East Anglia. Ray manages an amazing team of 15 highly skilled and trained music therapists and is keen to increase access to Music Therapy to more organisations and individuals across the region.

Fri 23 Jul 2021
Davina Vencatasamy qualified as a Music Therapist in 2006 from ARU and has been working in SEN and Mental Health settings ever since with a wide range of client groups. She is currently focussed on working on EDIB issues in Music and Music Therapy.
Tue 20 Jul 2021

Dr Ming Hung Hsu is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy Research and Music Therapy Lead for the national charity MHA. He currently works on the Homeside study funded by Alzheimer’s Society.

Wed 14 Jul 2021

Jenny Kirkwood has worked as a Music Therapist for 13 years in paediatric and adult learning disability, mental health and paediatric palliative care. From 2016-2019 she managed a team of therapists working in a range of settings across Northern Ireland, and was involved in service development, quality assurance and governance. She has also been involved in research projects into Music Therapy in palliative and end-of-life care with Queen's University Belfast.

Jenny currently works as AHP Coordinator for the Public Health Agency in Northern Ireland, scoping and reviewing Allied Health Professional services as part of the. Health and Social Care Transformation agenda in Northern Ireland.

Wed 7 Jul 2021

Dean Beadle is a conference speaker and inset trainer, sharing his experiences of being autistic. He works in the UK and abroad.

Facebook: @dean.beadlespeaker

Instagram: @deanbeadlespeaker