Belltree Music Therapy helps vulnerable children and adults across Sussex to connect through music.
“Music lights up the whole brain”
Music therapy enables expression of deep emotions through a creative process using sound, rhythm and silence. For some, this is the only time in their week they are able to bond with others.
Everyone has a right to psychological support. We strive to reach those who cannot easily access verbal therapies. Our mission is to enable disadvantaged people to build connections through music therapy.
We support those who are affected by illness, disability, social isolation or conditions which make it difficult to communicate with words, making everyday life a challenge. Music therapy addresses the whole person, including the physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual elements.
We work with children and adults with many conditions including:
- physical and learning disabilities
- autism
- dementia
- brain injury
- mental health issues
- experiences of trauma
Music Therapy uses music as a tool for emotional processing and improving communication skills using voice, instruments and technology. The therapy is led by the client and is a creative way to provide psychological support without the need for words.
For those we help, Belltree Music Therapy’s work builds
emotional resilience and increases their motivation to connect with others. Our work
reduces social isolation,
strengthens relationships, and enables a
better quality of life.
Why does our community need us?
Improvising together allows the client to touch, explore and express feelings and images that may be too frightening to verbalise. It helps develop an honest, trusting relationship with the therapist which may have been very difficult for the client on a purely verbal basis.
Music therapy also empowers clients to access and express the creative part of themselves that is often flattened by feelings of low self-worth or depression.
Our HCPC registered music therapists work in schools, hospitals, care homes, day centres and private homes with a wide range of individual clients and groups.
Our works helps build community cohesion by generating understanding between people, which leads to healthier relationships and a greater sense of cooperation. The creative therapeutic experiences that we offer lead to a deeper sense of self-worth for those involved and a brighter outlook on life.
'People who connect with others and are comfortable with who they are, have more to contribute to their community' (Action For Happiness).
Our work supports the World Health Organisation’s principles for a healthy society:
‘Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity'.
‘Healthy development of the child is of basic importance; the ability to live harmoniously in a changing total environment is essential to such development.’
