Building community through song: The therapeutic hospice choir

Abstract

Music enables us not only to reflect upon the world in which we live but also to become active agents in creating and shaping it and ourselves. The Treehouse Choir is an innovative, therapeutic programme open to all adult service users and staff at one of the East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices. The target group of the choir membership focuses primarily on the mothers of children receiving care at the hospice and bereaved mothers. The choir addresses the need for psychosocial support for families as they face the challenges of caring for a child with life-limiting and complex health conditions, as well as families mourning the loss of a child. This article analyzes data collected from questionnaires and interviews referring to the emotional, psychological and social benefits of participation in the choir. It examines how singing in the choir serves as a means through which individuals form a community built on shared life experiences, bridging boundaries between service provider and service user, creating a means of self-expression, and breaking down barriers to enable new lines of communication within a non-threatening environment. It also examines the role of public performances in promoting greater awareness of the services provided by the hospice.

Music therapy in Greece and its applications in dementia and end-of-life care

“…Expanded practices, such as open and community-oriented music therapy groups (Dennis & Rickson, 2014;Gosine & Travasso, 2018;Tsiris et al, 2014) as well performance-oriented work (Baker, 2013) and environmental music therapy (Canga et al, 2012;Rossetti, 2020), would also offer support to indirect beneficiaries including staff members, and generate a sense of organisational wellbeing. This is in line with the 'ripple effect' of music therapy as it has been documented in dementia care homes and palliative care contexts elsewhere (Pavlicevic et al, 2015;Tsiris, 2018).…”

Group singing for health and wellbeing in the Republic of Ireland: the first national map

“… 15 , 16 Adults with a chronic mental health condition and/or an intellectual or physical disability have experienced social, emotional, and practical gains. 17 The positive impacts of singing in a workplace choir for staff-only groups 18 , 19 and groups comprised of both staff and service users 20 have also been documented.…”