Orange Bicycles—A Case Story

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, staff wellbeing has been an important issue in healthcare settings. However, reports of the contributions of music therapy to this context are rare. During my MA Music Therapy training, I was able to offer music therapy in an NHS Trust’s staff support service for health...

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Main Author: Marcus Bull
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: GAMUT - Grieg Academy Music Therapy Research Centre (NORCE & University of Bergen) 2025-07-01
Series:Voices
Subjects:
Online Access:https://voices.no/index.php/voices/article/view/4364
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author Marcus Bull
author_facet Marcus Bull
author_sort Marcus Bull
collection DOAJ
description Since the COVID-19 pandemic, staff wellbeing has been an important issue in healthcare settings. However, reports of the contributions of music therapy to this context are rare. During my MA Music Therapy training, I was able to offer music therapy in an NHS Trust’s staff support service for healthcare workers who were burnt-out, depressed or anxious. In this paper I present a case story, focussing on one individual, “Violet,” and identify some of the significant moments in her therapy. From this story, it seems that music therapy can be a powerful way to support the wellbeing of staff, and this may be a rich new vein of work for music therapists to explore. While the Arts for the Blues was initially developed for psychoanalytic group work, this story shows how it has been successfully adapted for use in these one-to-one, active, improvisatory music therapy sessions. Indeed, the model allowed for the limited number of sessions offered in an NHS context to be fully used, and its ingredients contributed to significant moments of therapeutic change.
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publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher GAMUT - Grieg Academy Music Therapy Research Centre (NORCE & University of Bergen)
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spelling doaj-art-4f1655ec32da4c228071d06f7b03e9622025-08-20T03:30:36ZengGAMUT - Grieg Academy Music Therapy Research Centre (NORCE & University of Bergen)Voices1504-16112025-07-0125210.15845/voices.v25i2.4364Orange Bicycles—A Case StoryMarcus Bull0Student Music Therapist, University of South Wales, United Kingdom Since the COVID-19 pandemic, staff wellbeing has been an important issue in healthcare settings. However, reports of the contributions of music therapy to this context are rare. During my MA Music Therapy training, I was able to offer music therapy in an NHS Trust’s staff support service for healthcare workers who were burnt-out, depressed or anxious. In this paper I present a case story, focussing on one individual, “Violet,” and identify some of the significant moments in her therapy. From this story, it seems that music therapy can be a powerful way to support the wellbeing of staff, and this may be a rich new vein of work for music therapists to explore. While the Arts for the Blues was initially developed for psychoanalytic group work, this story shows how it has been successfully adapted for use in these one-to-one, active, improvisatory music therapy sessions. Indeed, the model allowed for the limited number of sessions offered in an NHS context to be fully used, and its ingredients contributed to significant moments of therapeutic change. https://voices.no/index.php/voices/article/view/4364staff wellbeingdepressionanxietyburnoutArts for the Blues
spellingShingle Marcus Bull
Orange Bicycles—A Case Story
Voices
staff wellbeing
depression
anxiety
burnout
Arts for the Blues
title Orange Bicycles—A Case Story
title_full Orange Bicycles—A Case Story
title_fullStr Orange Bicycles—A Case Story
title_full_unstemmed Orange Bicycles—A Case Story
title_short Orange Bicycles—A Case Story
title_sort orange bicycles a case story
topic staff wellbeing
depression
anxiety
burnout
Arts for the Blues
url https://voices.no/index.php/voices/article/view/4364
work_keys_str_mv AT marcusbull orangebicyclesacasestory