Ballachulish

AN INTERNATIONAL charity with more than 20 years’ experience of bringing the benefits of music therapy to people around the world has been working in a Lochaber care home.

Music as Therapy International has been training staff at the Abbeyfield care home in Ballachulish, a nursing and residential care home for elderly people with dementia.

The project aims to give staff the skills to use music therapy techniques with the residents, giving them the chance to make music together, build stronger relationships and form a new way to communicate their feelings.

The project has been run by local music therapist Clare Reynolds, who first volunteered for the charity in 1999, delivering a sixweek skill-sharing project in Romania.

It is just one of the charity’s many projects in its ‘Bringing It All Back Home’ initiative launched last year. Other similar projects have taken place around the UK.

Clare, one of only three qualified music therapists in the Highlands, is delighted with the success of the project and how receptive and enthusiastic the staff at Abbeyfield have been.

There have been some wonderful sessions, both individual and group, that have seen some positive responses from residents and Clare is confident the newly-trained staff will go from strength to strength in delivering music sessions.