Development of a Music Therapy Service in an Australian Public Rehabilitation Hospital

It is often challenging to find information about the details and development of clinical music therapy programs in other parts of the world. This article addresses a gap in the literature by describing the evolution of a neurological rehabilitation program over the past two years in Melbourne, Australia. After providing some local details on the development of rehabilitation music therapy in this part of the world, a brief rationale is offered for the place of music therapy in clinical rehabilitation services. This is followed by a detailed description of the implementation, operation and evaluation of the music therapy program established at the Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Centre in 2004. Music therapy in adult neurological rehabilitation is still an emerging area of practice in Australia. Although the first music therapy service for adult rehabilitation was piloted and developed here over 13 years ago, few rehabilitation facilities currently employ music therapy as a standard part of rehabilitation service. Although research and practice of music therapy in rehabilitation internationally is relatively new, it has been practiced for around 20 to 30 years in the United Kingdom and the United States of America respectively. The scarcity of music therapy positions in rehabilitation facilities in Australia is possibly a reflection of the lack of understanding of music therapy on the part of funding bodies and the shortage of rigorous music therapy research in this field. The establishment of new music therapy positions in rehabilitation facilities reflects the development of music therapy in neurorehabilitation internationally in terms of research, clinical practice and publications.