A keen drummer, Alan has spent the past 14 years in hospital after an attack left him with neurological damage.
“Without music, I wouldn’t be here,” he said. “When I’m playing the drums, I’m not mentally ill anymore.” Alan spent ten years learning to play jazz rock and is having to re-learn how to play following his injury. “The difference now, thanks to this programme, is that I know I can do it,” he added.
Faye Thornton, Therapy Co-ordinator for Cygnet Fountains, described the impact the programme was having on people like Alan. She said: “When I first met Alan, he’d suffered a lot of negative experiences and these were at the forefront of his mind when we started working together.
“As we started to talk and open up lines of communication we discovered that we both had a passion for music. There’s a light in his eye when he plays the drums and it puts a cheeky smile on his face. He likes a round of applause at the end of the day. Projects like Music 2 Empower can really make a difference to a service users’ life.”
Cygnet Health Care launched the Music 2 Empower initiative on World Mental Health Day 2019 and has since rolled out the programme across its hospitals, supporting music therapy-related projects throughout the organisation and allowing service users like Alan to showcase their abilities, give hope, inspire others and benefit from this well-established psychological approach.
Natalia Booth, Forensic Psychologist Trainee at Cygnet Fountains, said Alan hoped music was his route back into community living. She explained: “Music therapy for most people is a real avenue of managing emotions. For Alan, music plays a really key part of his recovery.
“Since having access to his drum kit, he’s a different guy. He’s very much set on his goal of discharge. He’s motivated to get better, he’s got goals and targets that he’s working towards.”
Dr Tony Romero, CEO of Cygnet Health Care, said, ““Being creative and expressing yourself through music is an important outlet for many of our service users and I am proud to see the impact Music 2 Empower is having across so many of our services. Although our connection to music can be incredibly personal, projects like Music 2 Empower allow our service users who have shared experiences to come together and experience the benefits of being around like-minded individuals.”
Cygnet Fountains is a 32 bed high dependency inpatient rehabilitation hospital in Blackburn. It has been designed to provide an environment which promotes recovery for men for whose life has been a challenge in the past.
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