What a full and exciting few days we had at the World Congress of Music Therapy!

Firstly, I found it quite amazing that 1,000+ music therapists, still a fairly niche profession on a global scale, gathered from many corners of the world in this small European city to exchange knowledge and build connections.

It was a joy to share the experience with Alexia and a few of the “wider” Music as Therapy team, Tako, Eli and Monika: names so familiar to me from our day-to-day work, but who I was meeting here for the first time.

For me, the Congress was also an exciting opportunity to represent the charity in a professional forum and to champion Music Helps. The presentation which Alexia and I co-authored, “Music Helps”: An exploration of collaboration and innovation in digital training for dementia caregivers, shared insight into our intercultural approach to co-developing the training, and celebrated the impact it has had over the past four years. It was heartening to receive genuine interest and enthusiasm from a full room of music therapists, and exciting to open possibilities for Music Helps to reach new audiences across the world.

I came home with a full notebook and the nice thought that Music Helps flyers may now be scattered across the world.

Over the rest of the Congress, I was keen to hear from and meet music therapists working with people living with dementia, learning from others’ approaches and identifying audiences for whom Music Helps could be valuable.

I attended many thoughtful and thought-provoking sessions, from round table discussions on fostering collaboration with care settings, to presentations sharing different approaches to exploring identity through music in varied contexts. It was interesting to learn how “successful” musical intervention was quantified through different academic lenses, while case studies from practising music therapists illustrated more immediately the joyful and sometimes surprising moments of musical connection shared with people living with dementia.

I was especially interested to learn more about the South African dementia care context, and it was great to have the opportunity to meet the South African music therapists we hope to collaborate with in future, if we are able to take forward our ambitions to adapt Music Helps for South Africa.

The Congress was an unforgettable experience on many levels; a unique opportunity to strengthen relationships between our extended teams, to champion our work, celebrate achievements of inspiring colleagues, and learn from experts across the field.

I came home with a full notebook and the nice thought that Music Helps flyers may now be scattered across the world. I’m excited to take forward all this learning as we continue to build on the programme’s impact!