Today we are incredibly excited to launch our brand new tool for Music Therapists - Song for Life.

At Chiltern, we fully understand the power that music has to make a positive impact on people's lives no matter how severe their injury or illness may be. That’s why we have created a custom Song for Life card that Music Therapists can use with their clients. By choosing a Song for Life, you will have a permanent reminder of a song that’s important to you. It can either lift you up or reflect a difficult time in your life. If you ever find yourself in a time of trouble, those closest to you know what song to play so that the power of music can reach you.

Therapists can use the Song for Life card with their clients - either in an individual or group setting. It is particularly helpful for those who are living with a brain injury or dementia. Research has shown that music is processed in several different areas of the brain. This means that even if some areas are damaged, music can still reach others. In fact, music can help build new neural pathways around the damaged areas of the brain.

We began our Song for Life campaign earlier this year at our Neuro Music Therapy conference. The conference brought together Music Therapists from all over the UK to talk about innovative Neurologic Music Therapy programmes, collaborative clinical work, legal considerations in Neurologic Music Therapy input, and recent research and developments. We wanted to provide the delegates with something that they could keep, would engage them and would tell them a bit more about what Chiltern does - particularly how music can help with brain injuries. 

Some of the delegates even tweeted about their own Song for Life. Here are a couple of the songs we received - 

🎵Tumbling Dice by The Rolling Stones

🎵Time after Time - Cyndi Lauper

🎵What a Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong

We know that music creates a powerful effect in the brain. This initiative reminded us what a useful tool music is if we ever lose our own brain function, whether that’s through a traumatic injury or dementia. 

To find out more about the campaign, how it can work in a real life setting and to get your own card, head to the Song for Life page.