Helen Odell-Miller — Interviewed by Rachel Darnley-Smith

Abstract

Helen Odell-Miller trained as a music therapist in 1976 with Juliette Alvin at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and subsequently completed an MPhil in music therapy research with elderly mentally ill people at City University in 1988. She was largely responsible for developing the now extensive music therapy service in Cambridge during the 1980s and, together with Amelia Oldfield, set up the music therapy training course at Anglia Polytechnic University (APU) in Cambridge, which began in 1994. She has been involved with the development of the music therapy profession since her training and was chair of the APMT during the early 1980s. In addition, she was a founder member of the APMT Post-diploma Supervision Scheme. Today, alongside her clinical and research work at Addenbrooke's NHS Mental Health Trust, she is Head of the first UK MA Music Therapy Training, at Anglia Polytechnic University, Cambridge, and Music Therapy Advisor to the Department of Health. Rachel Darnley-Smith is Head Music Therapist for Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust at St. Ann's Hospital in North London and Clinical Tutor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She was chair of the APMT, 1990–92.