Inter-disciplinary practice has long been an important part of the work that we do at Raukatauri. In addition to providing music therapy services, the Centre serves as a clinical training site for allied health students studying for Master’s Degrees in Dance Movement Therapy, Creative Arts Therapy, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy and Speech Language Therapy. Working in this style allows for collaborative insight that only comes from shared knowledge and expertise.
This year we embarked on an exciting collaboration between music therapy, speech language therapy and Owairaka District School. Supported by Bianca Jackson, Speech Language Therapist and lecturer at the University of Auckland, Raukatauri Music Therapist Xiu Li led a group of six Speech Language Therapy Master’s students from the University of Auckland to provide sessions that integrated both speech language and music therapy.
While currently paused due to the lockdown, the programme is running for 10 weeks, and serves 30 students from Owairaka through three group sessions each week. Xiu and the SLT students have worked together to plan goals and desired outcomes for each group based on their knowledge of the children’s learning needs, and then created activities that combined speech language therapy and music therapy to work on those goals, including movement activities, instrument and language songs, and musical games. The programme has continued to support the Owairaka students during lockdown, with Xiu and the SLT students meeting over Zoom to record individualised learning videos for the groups which were then shared with each family.
One outcome that Xiu and the SLT students were especially proud of was the collaborative creation of the song, “Pick and Choose”, that met their goals for music, speech, turn taking, listening, and also having fun! The song was initially written by Bianca and modified by Xiu to add musical flair. Xiu and the SLT students used the song often in their sessions, and the Owairaka students loved it.
Xiu has felt privileged to have the opportunity to work with the SLT students and to combine their strengths to create new ways to support their clients. The feedback from the programme has been overwhelmingly positive with the Owairaka students given the opportunity to describe the group in one word during a recent session. The words they used included, “fun”, “love music”, “love group”, “love teacher”, “feel very relaxed”. The SLT students were also very positive about their time during this collaboration, and said they would love to continue working with music therapy.
Owairaka District School told us that they loved working with Xiu, and Raukatauri certainly hopes to continue this highly beneficial programme in 2022. Thank you to the Albert-Eden Local Board for funding the 10 week programme, to Owairaka District School for having us, to Bianca Jackson for providing such great leadership, and to the wonderful Speech Language Therapy students who were so open and eager to learn and participate with Xiu in this programme. We are excited about more opportunities to work collaboratively with others, to extend our repertoire as music therapists and to always advance our skill set to best provide for the whānau and individuals that we provide for.