‘The whole is greater’. Developing music therapy services in the National Health Service: A case study revisited

Abstract

This article describes contemporary music therapy practice within Chelsea and Westminster Hospital National Health Service Foundation Trust in London. The authors revisit an earlier article about the service (‘The whole is greater than the sum of its parts: experiences of co-working as Music Therapists’, Fearn and O’Connor), which described an evolving approach of two Music Therapists based at one Child Development Service, part of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London. On this foundation, a team of 10 part-time Music Therapists has developed, working across three London boroughs and a number of multidisciplinary teams. This article will look at how the music therapy practice has developed in this setting over the past decade, in order to provide a practical and theoretical perspective for Music Therapists within multidisciplinary settings. Influences that have shaped the service and the wider music therapy profession will be explored, such as an increased emphasis on a goal-centred, multidisciplinary team approach, the changing needs and volume of the children presenting to the service and the consequent development of the music therapy team.