Music therapy programs for older Australians accessing aged care support in residential and community settings.
Music Beat Therapy Services provides individualised one-on-one and group music therapy programs for older adults seeking support in home, community, and residential settings.
Our Registered Music Therapists are trained in combining the neurological benefits of music with its sociocultural significance to facilitate environments that support brain function and promote healthy aging.
We use elements of music and neuroscience to enhance, develop and maintain the health, functioning and wellbeing of our participants (those in general aged care, with neurodegenerative conditions, mental health, disabilities etc).
We use various music-based activities and interventions to achieve their musical and non-musical goals.
Australia’s aging population continues to grow, putting increasing pressure on health, family, and community systems.
Social isolation, neurodegenerative conditions, disability, mental health, and pain are just some of the complex challenges that older Australians experience on a daily basis.
These challenges ripple out from the individual, impacting their wider community and support networks.
Improve wellbeing
Music therapy, as an effective nonpharmacological therapeutic approach, is used to support aging individuals with:
- chronic and acute pain
- mobility, fine and gross motor skills
- medical conditions or rehabilitation
- Alzheimer's and dementia (memory, agitation, carer support)
- mood regulation (e.g. anxiety and/or depression)
- maintaining identity and social connections
As a person ages and their world begins to shrink, we prioritise preserving their connections, sense of identity, and self-worth—because music is the key to keeping those bonds alive.
Many adults come to us seeking ways to improve their health and well being. We support them by:
- Assessing the ways music can enhance their current goals and wellbeing
- Identifying creative ways music can support them psycho-socially, physically, cognitively, emotionally, and medically.
- Advocating for additional resources and supports to assist in managing day to day tasks
- Building music therapy based tools to support them to engage in the community
We do this over a 3- week assessment period, before writing an individual and person- centred treatment program based on the client’s musical and therapeutic needs, wants and preferences.
Improve Mood and Connection to Personhood
Music therapy can also help older adults to improve their overall mood and connect with their identity and personhood. This includes regulating feelings of agitation or anxiety, as well as providing ways to highlight their strengths and preferences.
Our team helps our clients develop practical strategies to manage these feelings as well as symptoms of anxiety, stress and depression that can impact on the functional capacities of daily living.
Our brains love the structure and repetition of music. This is one of the reasons we can use it to help our adult clients work on goals that focus on improving mental processing, attention, memory, and communication.
Utilising and highlighting familiar music can help an older adult feel connected to their past, helping them feel safe. This supports them to be aware of their environment, socialise with others, and often improve their capacity to engage in daily care activities and routine.
- Motor skills
- Communication and language skills
- Cognitive skills
- Social/emotional skills
- Sensory needs
After the assessment period, our RMTs will set goals and objectives that align with the client’s NDIS goals to support them in providing consistent and holistic therapy.
A support plan is often written in conjunction with the therapy goals to provide evidence for how our RMTs will approach working towards the goals outlining various music therapy techniques. Once the music therapy program has commenced, our RMTs will document progress after each session and will report to the client, family, or support system.
This often occurs annually through a music therapy progress report directed to the NDIS to provide evidence for how music therapy has supported the continued building of daily living skills.
Music therapy techniques with older adults
We use a range of music therapy techniques to meet the goals of our adult clients including:
- Improvisation
- Music creation
- Recreating music (singing, playing along to music)
- Instrumental play and movement
- Music listening and assisted counselling
- Neurologic music therapy
