Music at Galaxy House Project

Please click on the videos below to have a glimpse of the programmes that we have run

This is a project led by music therapist and producer Jon Hall from Outsider Music (OM) together with Dr Paul Abeles, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, funded by RMCH charities. It delivered a platform for young people to develop and showcase (publicly and/or privately) their creative and positive ‘selves’; and to explore if and how these life experiences and benefits lay foundation for engagement and improvement in other important life spheres, not least their mental health & wellbeing. The project offered a unique blend of music which encourages a platform for ‘healing’, through people initiating, producing and showcasing creative expression. In doing so, the unique ‘creative-output’ focussed approach looks to build core life skills and competencies, such as self-confidence and communication, and (re)establishes identity and agency.

The project has been offered to all young people resident on Galaxy Ward every year over the last 5 years (since 2018) in the Autumn/Winter. The project was carefully developed and planned with the staff at Galaxy Ward to ensure the programme was integrated into established routines and the ward’s ‘ways of working’. The hope was to ensure the benefits of individual learning and ‘healing’ processes which stems from a unique process (from initial improvisation through to a final celebration event/output) which can be built on and shared with the wider services and practitioners working with the young people at Galaxy House.

The projects run over 7 to 8 weeks, offering either 1:1 and /or group sessions. As the project progressed, the young people worked towards a final event/performance which was co–developed and co–designed with all participants. The final performance events also looked to engage the wider community of the ward, inviting friends and family, as well as wider stakeholders and interested parties linked with the Trust. Through a flexible resource-oriented approach, the music therapist worked with all young people in the most appropriate way.

Activities included:

– Listening & talking about music to gain a deeper understanding of musical preference

– Instrumental and vocal improvisation

– Song-writing, using either acoustic instruments or music technology

– Creative lyric writing promoting reflection

– Recording client music tracks, includes original songs, drumming, instruments, vocals, raps, poetry, spoken word and personal narratives

– Creating a finished product CD and videos

– Live performance preparation, rehearsals

– Group rehearsals and live performance

– Working with staff and organisation participation.

The projects have helped make a case for the provision of formal Music Therapy on Galaxy House, which has now also been offered since January 2019. The second and third projects saw an interaction between the ongoing Music Therapy and the Music at Galaxy House project which proved to be mutually reciprocal. The fourth project in 2022 benefited from an additional Creative Health grant after the completion of the project to allow the young people to produce their own private video from the music they had created that was used to communicate their feelings and their story to professionals. The most recent project in 2023 combined music and video together again for the entirety of the project.