ellenor hospice respects patients’ dignity and independence, providing quality care and supporting patients and families to live with life limiting illness at home or in the hospice.
The Music grant from The Radcliffe Trust was used to fund the delivery of ellenor’s Music Therapy service for children and young people. The service supports children up to the age of 18 in North Kent and the London Borough of Bexley with life-limiting conditions. This includes those at the end of life, and with Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties (PMLD). Also supported are children who have lost or are facing the loss of a sibling or parent. ellenor’s Music Therapist encourages the children to take part in music-making however they are able: using voices, instruments, and movements as a way of connecting with other people, communicating their emotions, and coming to terms with loss.
Individual sessions use the medium of music to address a goal identified in the referral process. The child or young person is always the focus: “In Music Therapy, the person has to be at the centre of everything.
Group sessions within the Music Therapy service are beneficial, creating a sense of familiarity and community within a peer group of children who are experiencing similar, difficult circumstances. Since January 2024, a total of 81 Music Therapy sessions were delivered this figure accounts for young people accessing the service from age 4 years to 17.