Project Georgia
We are looking forward to developing the next phase of Project Georgia in 2012 alongside Music Therapists Alastair Robertson and Sarah Whiteside.
Sarah and Alastair travelled to Tbilisi in October 2011 to deliver a 3 week music as therapy skill sharing project for staff and children at residential school, ‘Public School No 200.’ The school is home for not only orphaned children, but also for children whose parents are unable to look after them for a variety of reasons.
Georgia is a country scarred by conflict and many families have been displaced and live in very basic settlements around Tbilisi and elsewhere, unable to return home. In Tbilisi unemployment is high and poverty, with attendant emotional distress, physical deprivation and mental health problems, is a fact of life for many. Some families struggle to provide the care their children need. This is particularly true where children are disabled or display challenging behaviour as a result of emotional distress, or when the parents themselves have mental health or substance abuse issues.
Sarah and Alastair found that many of the children at the school were “very vulnerable, with traumatic histories and complex needs”. They responded to these needs by teaching staff how to use music therapeutically so they could find new ways in which to communicate with the children. This gave the staff new insights into the children's lives and in turn enabled the children the opportunity to express themselves in a safe environment. In total, they trained ten members of staff and ran music sessions with six groups of children (thirty children in total). The staff gradually transitioned from particiapting to leading the workshops by the end of the third week.
Sarah and Alastair also began to form a network of professionals that would connect people using music with other vulnerable adults and children. Psychologists, musicians, staff from organisations such as Save the Children, the Tbilisi State Conservatoire and the Charity Humanitarian Centre "Abkhazeti" (CHCA) attended and an email group was created so theat they could all stay in touch. The hope is to build on these connection as the project develops in the future.
For more information, you can read the Report for Sponsor's here
