Humanistic Music Therapy in the Child Welfare

Reflections on the Label "Humanistic Music therapy" and Its Correlation with the Visions of the Leaders of a New Child Welfare Institution for Adolescents

Autores/as

  • Ingeborg Nebelung Norwegian Academy of Music, Oslo, Norway
  • Karette Stensæth Norwegian Academy of Music, Oslo, Norway

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15845/voices.v18i4.2590

Palabras clave:

child welfare, adolescents, humanistic music therapy, developing a new care unit

Resumen

Music therapy has for a long time been associated with humanistic values, both among music therapists but more and more also among people outside the field. Do we all have a common understanding of what humanistic music therapy is? The point of departure in this paper is the development of a new Norwegian residential care unit for adolescents in child welfare services. Those responsible for this unit have included a music therapist, because they want to base the enterprise and its activities upon the values they associate with music therapy. This paper asks: What is “humanistic music therapy” and how might its perspectives correlate with the visions and ideas of the leaders of a child welfare institution? A literature review will assess the critical understanding of the concept of humanistic music therapy, in order to understand its unbiased and foundational values. Semi-structured interviews with the unit’s initiators will describe their visions and hopes for the development of the care unit with regard to humanistic music therapy. By correlating the findings from the literature review and the interviews, the paper describes aspects that might contribute to a common ground of understanding for the music therapist and the workers in the unit, which in turn might contribute to personal growth and health promotion among the adolescents and their community.

Biografía del autor/a

Ingeborg Nebelung, Norwegian Academy of Music, Oslo, Norway

Ingeborg Nebelung is a PhD Candidate at the Norwegian Academy of Music. She is an experienced music therapist and has worked mostly with children and youth with special needs. Shehas recently been hired as a music therapist of a new child welfare unit in Norway, which will be the main topic of her PhD research.

Karette Stensæth, Norwegian Academy of Music, Oslo, Norway

Karette Stensæth is Associate Professor in Music Therapy and Director of the Centre for Research in Music and Health (CREMAH) at the Norwegian Academy of Music. She has edited several books and her monography, Responsiveness in Music Therapy Improvisation. A Perspective inspired by Mikhail Bakhtin, was published in 2017. Karette has much clinical experience as a music therapist working with children and youth with special needs. 

Publicado

2018-10-17

Cómo citar

Nebelung, I., & Stensæth, K. (2018). Humanistic Music Therapy in the Child Welfare: Reflections on the Label "Humanistic Music therapy" and Its Correlation with the Visions of the Leaders of a New Child Welfare Institution for Adolescents. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, 18(4). https://doi.org/10.15845/voices.v18i4.2590