In this blog, a group of three music therapy and mental health researcher-practitioners who work in in different countries, write about their CPE Small Grant project. Catherine works at Queen Mary University of London (UK), Tríona works at the University of Limerick (Ireland) and Hans Petter at the Norwegian Academy of Music (Norway).
In 2018 we founded the Alliance for Recovery Research in Music Therapy (ARRIMT) as an international group of music therapy service users, researchers and practitioners. Fundamental to this group is the concept of recovery where those who use and those who provide mental health services work together to share knowledge and experiences that can have a positive impact on mental health service delivery. Together we have created an online group who share ideas and knowledge about how music can support mental health and wellbeing in everyday life. Key to this is listening carefully to the voices of those who use music therapy so that their views and experiences influence how music therapy is offered in mental health services.
In 2022 our group was awarded a CPE Small Grant for the development of the ARRIMT social media project. This involved working online with music therapy service users, practitioners and researchers in Ireland, Norway, and the UK to develop our Facebook and Instagram sites.
Over two meetings on Zoom, our group of 14 members met online to share ideas and decide on content for our social media sites. This project began with a presentation from a social media expert who guided us through the process of Facebook and Instagram site design while also sharing some key tips and ideas to help us get started on this. Through open discussions, smaller group discussions in breakout rooms and music listening, our group developed ideas for the final content of these social media sites. After each meeting group members were contacted individually about their experience of participation to ensure that everyone felt that their voice was heard and their ideas were taken into consideration.
Music played an important role during these meetings. We shared music videos with each other that helped us think about how music can bring people together for a greater social good and also how music can be a comfort during challenging times. Our group agreed that this created a sense of togetherness, despite us being logged in online from different countries and coming from different cultures and life situations.
Through the support of the CPE Small Grant, the ARRIMT now have Facebook and Instagram sites where our group members share their ideas about music, music therapy and mental health. We have now started to share this content from our members and hope this will reach and inspire a wider audience about the benefits of using music and music therapy for mental health and wellbeing. If you would like to follow this work please follow us on Facebook or Instagram @arri.mt
By Tríona McCaffrey and Hans Petter Solli