This study explored the value of music therapy practice with a non-verbal child conducted by the author, a Music Therapy Student (MTS), as seen through the eyes of two music therapists and the child’s mother, as well as the improvement achieved in the MTS’s understanding of music therapy practice through sharing the three professionals’ insights. The paper addresses two research questions: (1) How is music therapy with a non-verbal child perceived by music therapy professionals? (2) How does sharing these professionals’ understanding of music therapy improve the MTS’s understanding of this therapeutic process? The MTS’s self-reflections were treated as part of the data in this research, as was the non-verbal communication within the music therapy intervention to support the findings. The qualitative research, ‘Naturalistic inquiry’ was used for this research. Data was collected by interviewing these three professionals individually about their perceptions of music therapy after watching three video extracts of normal music therapy sessions with the child. The video extracts were selected from the significant moments of non-verbal communication. Through this process of sharing the professionals’ perceptions, the MTS gained a deeper understanding of both the child and the music therapy practice administered, confirming and extending her understanding of the musical and therapeutic skills and techniques of the three professionals, which they had gained in their varied experiences and which had been shaped by their varied backgrounds. The MTS was thus engaged in a learning process which hoped would enhance the quality of therapy provided by her in the future.

This study explores how other music therapists and mental health professionals process and reflect on their sessions and what issues are relevant and instrumental in achieving this. The primary focus is on an acute psychiatric ward for adolescents. The intent is to improve my ability to process and reflect on my clients’ responses and actions during and after future Music Therapy sessions. Research began by exploring the various ways of processing content that emerge during sessions by exploring the literature, interviewing an Occupational Therapist and a Clinical Psychiatrist from the unit and by analysing my reflective journal. Using multiple sources of information, methods, techniques and theories I will endeavour to uncover meaning, improve my understanding and thus improve my future practice. The initial perspective was endeavouring to discover how a therapist can better reflect on or process their sessions. Findings showed that the therapist processing with intent to “fix” or “cure” a client is misdirected. Through self-reflection, observation, ‘mindfulness’ , empathy, awareness of countertransference and several other tools, a therapist is able to become client-centred and potentially assist the client to self-reflect and develop mindfulness. The way in which a therapist processes and reflects is often influenced by an underlying psychodynamic theory that they adhere to. Experience and training can also influence this processing. With this client group, it is difficult to fully comprehend what a client is feeling or thinking. A therapist best serves the client by initially focusing on the client-therapist relationship. By building a trusting, safe environment, meeting the clients where they are emotionally or physically and by making exercises meaningful, clients needs can begin to be met. This all contributes to the ultimate goal of the therapy at this unit - to help clients “gain skills, gain independence and gain wellness”.

This study explored ways in which a music therapy student could modify and improve her own clinical practice in order to facilitate client contribution in group music therapy in an acute adolescent inpatient unit. Through cycles of observation, evaluation, planning, and action, the music therapy student was able to examine her facilitation techniques in detail and modified them accordingly. There were six fortnightly cycles and in each cycle, the research journal, research notes, and video-recording were systematically reviewed by the music therapy student herself, and themes were drawn out to contribute to the planning of the next cycle. The results suggested that while direct questions predominated at the start of study, the music therapy student was able to adopt a variety of other techniques by the end of the research period, including self-disclosure, appropriate eye contact, and the shifting of responsibility. The music therapy student also found that her own anxiety level, which was often caused by periods of silence in music groups, also had an important impact on her ability to facilitate. The discussion addressed other factors that are believed to have contributed to the student?s ability to facilitate in group music therapy.