About LIME Music for Health

The Music for Health team have been delivering music across Central Manchester University Hospitals Foundation Trust (CMFT) since 2009. The work so far has included;

The delivery of specialist musical activity on the wards and at the bedsides of patients (This work is delivered by highly skilled Music for Health practitioners, trained by Music for Health Specialists)

Music for Health training for RNCM students and CMFT staff

Commissioned training for professional and voluntary musicians and healthcare students (from Manchester and Salford Universities)

European partnership projects with France, Ireland, Poland and Finland and presentations at a number of conferences

The Medical Notes research study. (This study measured the impact of music on the hospital community, funded by Youth Muisc and the RNCM it was completed and published in 2012 by The University of Salford)

Research by Dr Jane Oakland into the perceptions of musicians working in healthcare and their training and support needs Artistic Residencies The popular Music for Health public concert series.

With the continued support from the CMFT Charitable Funds Committee of Directors, Music for Health specialists Holly Marland, Ros Hawley and Mark Fisher have now joined the award winning charity Lime to form Lime Music for Health.

The Youth Music-funded Medical Notes research project at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital (2011/12) showed how the provision of opportunities to engage in co-creative live music sessions with Music for Health practitioners improved children’s and young people’s (CYP) psychological and social wellbeing during hospitalisation. The report demonstrated that the project had substantially enhanced the provision of music activity, that CYP had experienced significant musical, social, personal and emotional development and that the emerging Music for Health workforce had been strengthened through training and knowledge sharing.

The evaluation also highlighted a significant need for a longer-term music programme at RMCH, delivered by a core team of professional musicians, working on a regular basis.

In August 2013 we received fantastic news from Youth Music that they will fund a 2-year programme of training, practice and research at RMCH which LIME Music for Health proposed to them. The funding is £127K over 2 years and is supporting;

A tiered Medical Notes training programme for musicians (9 musicians in yr1, 12 in yr 2)

Training for healthcare staff at RMCH

2 Summer Festival events at RMCH in collaboration with the Youth Music Action Zone for Manchester, Brighter Sound

A specialist Early Years project called Songbirds led by Ros and Mark

2 pieces of written research by Salford School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work and Evaluative films compiled by an arts for health film-maker

National advocacy

For more information and to keep up to date with the Music for Health project, staff and patients please subscribe to this blog. You can also visit the Lime website www.limeart.org<http://www.limeart.org.

THE LIME MUSIC FOR HEALTH TEAM:

Ros Hawley and Mark Fisher have comprehensive experience of devising and leading creative music programmes in disability, educational and residential settings and in adult and children’s healthcare settings. They have extensive experience of working with CYP with limited or non-verbal communication. Key projects that have shaped their unique approach include Seasons of the Sun, at Robin House Children’s Hospice in Scotland (2005-10), Sound Collectors working with cystic fibrosis patients at Wythenshawe Hospital with LIME (2006-9), work as Musicians in Residence at Seashell Trust (1999 — present) and delivery/design of the RNCM M4H programme (2005- present). Their training portfolio includes sessions/presentations at nursing conferences and training for counselling psychology doctorate students and NSPCC counsellors. In October 2013 a case study about their student training at RMCH will be published by NAME. Visit www.rosfishmusic.com to see more about their work.

Holly Marland is a Qualified Music Therapist and a key player in the emergent M4H Sector, in the UK and Internationally. Holly established M4H at the RNCM in 2005 and has directed its work to date drawing on her skills as programme manager, performer, practitioner and educator. Holly has presented on the work of Music for Health in conferences across Europe and in the USA and is considered an expert in the field. Holly uniquely combines management expertise with a professional performance career that includes regular broadcasts as a member of the BBC Daily Service Singers, performance and studio work as a Kora player (West African Harp) and participatory concert performances in special education needs settings with her duo partner Michael Cretu.

LIME Project Manager/Artist Dawn Prescott has been involved with M4H since its inception, collaborating with the team on a number of initiatives including a European Culture 2000 programme in 2005 and the recently launched CMFT Concerts Series (Patron: Jools Holland). Dawn led M4H in the creative development of a musical gift for Her Majesty the Queen on her visit to CMFT in March 2012 and also created M4H’s brand identity. A highly-skilled manager and arts for health practitioner, Dawn will work alongside Ros, Mark and Holly, project managing the Music for Health Programme and bringing her award winning artistic skills into its marketing, the production of art work and cross – arts collaborations.

Please feel free to contact us directly via dawn@limeart.org – we are very friendly and always happy to talk about the work and share our experiences with others!