Music In Mind In Salford

Places available for People with Dementia on new Music in Mind programme in Salford

Manchester Camerata are offering music therapy sessions for people with an early diagnosis of Dementia and their carers at Garden Needs Community Wellbeing Centre, Radford Street, Salford M7 4NT. This project is in partnership with the Henry Smith Charity and is part of our Music in Mind programme which has been running since 2012.

Sessions will take place every Wednesday morning at 10 am and 11.15 am, starting on 18^th March 2015 for ten weeks. The group will be led by an experienced Music Therapist and professional musicians from the Camerata orchestra.

‘Music in Mind’ brings together the clinical work of music therapists alongside orchestral musicians to create a unique project which has been developed to support people living with dementia.  Evaluation of our pilot in 2012 showed that the music workshops had had a profound positive impact:

‘It’s made me feel that I was nearer to normal’ (Person with Dementia).

‘Something feels different… it’s a good feeling’ (Person with Dementia).

‘It did make us closer’ (Carer).

Over the last two year the success of Music in Mind has seen the programme expand and be delivered across Manchester, Rochdale, Tameside and Crewe.

Workshop sessions will be focussed on developing communication and interaction through musical improvisation and expression, particularly for those participants with limited language skills and those in the latter stages of the illness.  Musicians will work closely with the participants, identifying those activities that elicit the most positive responses and develop these, gradually drawing ideas from the participants to incorporate into the improvisations, developing activities and experiences that exist in the moment.

Throughout the project, carers will learn through participation and observation, and be encouraged to use music as part of care provision on an ongoing basis as part of their care practice.  Previous projects have proved this generates different and more positive interaction and relationships between participants and carers, and therefore an increased quality of life.

Please contact Lucy Geddes, Learning Officer, on 0161 908 0042/ lgeddes@manchestercamerata.com for more information.

Sessions will also be taking place at the Young Onset Dementia Service in Manchester on Wednesday afternoons from 15^th March to 3^rd June 2015.