AN INTERNATIONAL charity is launching a new awareness campaign celebrating the remarkable ways music can improve our lives and change our approach to people in care.
Music as Therapy International is an award-winning charity with over 20 years experience bringing music into the lives of vulnerable people in the UK and around the world. They believe passionately in the power of music to make the most of people’s potential, overcoming obstacles such as disability, trauma and mental illness.
The UK-registered charity’s #MusicCan campaign is launched 19 January 2018 to highlight the seemingly endless ways music can have a positive impact on the lives of every individual, no matter their circumstance or background.
Alexia Quin, founder and director of Music as Therapy International, said: “We are launching our campaign to highlight and celebrate the power and impact music can have for every one of us.”
As part of the campaign, the charity are sharing a collection of short films demonstrating the effect music can have on improving care. They are also encouraging the general public to get involved under the #MusicCan hashtag and share their own poersonal thoughts and feelings on what music can do for them.
The campaign is launched to coincide with the publishing of a report (18 January 2018) following a Commission on Dementia and Music by the International Longevity Centre UK (ILC). Among its findings the Commission, which was sponsored by the Utley Foundation, recognises the wealth of evidence supporting the use of music to improve the lives of people living with dementia.
According to figures from the Alzheimer’s Society, there are around 850,000 people living with dementia in the UK today, with higher health and social care costs (£11.9bn) than cancer (£5.0bn), stroke (£2.9bn) and chronic heart disease (£2.5bn) combined. It is anticipated there will be one million people living with dementia in the UK by 2025.
Considering the use of music in dementia care, Alexia said: “This report clearly highlights the massive part music has to play in the care of people with dementia. Not only is music adaptable for people with different forms of the disease, it has no known negative impacts, especially when compared to the use of anti-psychotic medications.”
Alexia added: “By focusing on the positive message of ‘Music Can’, we hope this campaign will help raise awareness of the potential for music to change the way we care.”
Watch
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