Henry Dunn is a Music Psychotherapist with Devon Partnership NHS Trust. Elizabeth Coombes is Course Leader of the MA Music Therapy training at the University of South Wales. Emma Maclean is Lead Music Therapist, NHS Lothian and Lecturer in Music Therapy, Queen Margaret University. Helen Mottram is Music Therapist with Hertfordshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. Josie Nugent is a Freelance Music Therapist, Northern Ireland and Teacher and Supervisor on MA Music Therapy Training course, University of Limerick, Ireland.
Wonderfully rich in its range of content, this book is a must read, an invaluable text for music therapists, other professionals, and music therapy training programs worldwide. The contributors, all experienced music therapists and researchers from across the UK, describe improvisational, relational, and collaborative approaches. Offering a deep appreciation of people with autistic spectrum conditions across the lifespan, and of how music therapy 'works', this book illuminates the interweaving of musical, developmental, humanistic, and psychodynamic perspectives, in the service of neuro-diversity, identity and culture. -- Jacqueline Z. Robarts, Professor, Music Therapy MA Program, Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London This book brings together an impressive range of perspectives on music therapy practice in the UK, with authors offering reflective insights to their work across the autism spectrum and the lifespan. The writing is deeply respectful of the lived experience of people on the autism spectrum and highlights how music therapists can contribute to celebrating autistic identity and culture. Highly relevant critiques are made about best practice for defining and measuring outcomes in therapy that challenge clinicians and researchers to intensely reflect on their practice. -- Grace Thompson, Senior Lecturer in Music Therapy at the University of Melbourne.