Role of Music Therapy in Neurosurgery
Music Therapy is an evidence based profession that uses music to help patients reach health goals. Music Therapists working in the area of acute paediatric neurosurgery are primarily concerned with the emotional needs of the child and provide opportunities for the child to express their experience of illness, treatment and hospitalisation using music.
Neurologic Music Therapists draw on their understanding of how music is processed in the brain and use music in a prescriptive way to support a patient from a cognitive, physical, emotional or social perspective working closely with the interdisciplinary team. Sessions are individualised to each patient and can differ based on the needs of the child or young person. Sessions may take place at bedside, on the ward or if appropriate in the Music Therapy room which offers an engaging therapeutic environment within the clinical setting. No prior experience or knowledge of music is required by the child/young person.
Meet the Music therapy team
Alison Sweeney, Senior Music Therapist
Alison completed a Masters in Music Therapy at the University of Limerick in 2012 and established the Music Therapy service at CHI at Temple Street in 2015. She has experience of working in many different areas of clinical practice including special education, residential services, specialist hospice centres and the acute hospital setting. Alison has completed specialist Neurologic Music Therapy training under Professors Michael & Corrine Thaut (The Academy of Neurologic Music Therapy, Toronto). She is also a qualified MATADOC assessor having undertaken additional training under Dr. Wendy Magee examining the use & implementation of a Music Therapy Assessment Tool for Disorders of Consciousness. She has held cross appointments in Music Therapy at CHI Tallaght and is site lead for the Music Therapy department at CHI Temple Street.
Alison is passionate about using music based methods to support a child’s recovery. She has published papers exploring the use of Augmentative and Alternative communication (AAC) systems in Music Therapy as well as conducted a piece of international research with a fellow Music Therapist in the United States.
Alison is co-developer of the Upper Limb Stretching Song Programme, a joint initiative with Sarah Governey, Senior Occupational Therapist (CHI at Temple Street). This programme introduces specific action based songs to support range of motion in children with upper limb weakness presenting to the neuroscience teams.
Alison is currently involved in a large scale research study in conjunction with CHI at Temple Street and University College Dublin and with principal investigator Dr. Suja Somanadhan. This work explores the use of music and other arts methods to support children and young people living with rare disease.